Spiral Ventures invests in Vietnam’s online bus ticket booking system Vexere

Photo source Vexere's Facebook

By Quynh Nguyen

January 30, 2018

Singapore-headquartered Spiral Ventures (formerly IMJ Investment Partners) has announced its investment in Vexere Joint Stock Company, a Vietnam-based startup that operates online bus ticket and car booking system.

“We are pleased to announce that we have invested in Vexere in Vietnam which offers bus seat inventory management and reservation Software as a service (SaaS) for bus operators and selling those tickets on online,” Ryu Hirota, Principal of Spiral Ventures, recently shared on  Facebook.

Financial terms remain undisclosed. “We will soon release the official detailed information about this investment,” Vexere founder Tran Nguyen Le Van told DEALSTREETASIA in an interaction.

Vexere.com was officially launched in July 2013. It has since listed information of more than 2,000 bus operators and attracted about 2,000,000 monthly visitors, to become the number one online bus ticket booking portal in Vietnam.

Vexere offers the Bus Management System (BMS), which is used by more than 300 big bus operators.

In Vietnam, the demand for mid-distance transportation by bus is increasing thanks to lower pricing, $10 in average, than flights and the convenience it offers such as night travel, according to Hirota.

People used to go to bus station and queue to buy tickets, but Vexere is now allowing those people to book and purchase tickets on online. In addition, their SaaS solution enables the bus operators to manage their seats inventory in real-time and increases productivity of their operation.

Now this is the new phase where the startup can invest the funds to further accelerate their growth, Hirota stressed, adding that Spiral Ventures will also revolutionize and grow Vietnamese transportation market.

Spiral Ventures was established in 2012 by IMJ Corporation, a major digital marketing company, as an independent venture capital subsidiary in Japan.

After IMJ was acquired by Culture Convenience Club in 2013, the venture fund continued its investment activities and relocated its office to Singapore to change strategy and start a venture capital fund for the Southeast Asia market.

Tokyo-headquartered CyberAgent Ventures, a venture capital arm of Internet firm CyberAgent Inc earlier also announced its second round of funding in Vexere. This undisclosed funding round was also co-invested by Singapore-based Pix Vine Capital, led by its chief investment partner Patrick De Silva.

Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

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Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

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  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
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Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
APPLY NOW