SoBanHang Funding Gives Hong Leong a Merchant Data Bet

SoBanHang funding has reached at least US$3.8 million in a pre-Series A round anchored by Hong Leong Bank, but the sharper bet is on the daily sales record of Vietnam’s smallest merchants. Regulatory filings cited by DealStreetAsia put Hong Leong Bank’s check at US$2 million and OSK-SBI Venture Partners at US$1.5 million, with FEBE Ventures and Antler also participating.

For Finan, the Singapore-based parent of the Vietnamese sales management app, the money buys time to build Finan One. For banks, it buys a possible route from app usage to credit decisions in a market where many shopkeepers still sit outside formal lending.

The Round Bought More Than Runway

Finan said in its own pre-Series A announcement that the new capital will support Finan One, an artificial intelligence native system (AI-native, built around model-driven automation rather than added later) for small and micro businesses. The company also said the app now serves more than 800,000 business users and has processed more than US$5 billion in transaction value.

Those numbers explain why a bank-led round matters. A sales app can count orders, invoices, inventory and cash flow before a lender ever asks for documents. That is operating data, and in a thin-file merchant market it can be more useful than a glossy pitch deck.

• US$3.8 million is the minimum size of the reported pre-Series A round, with fundraising said to be still open.
• 800,000 business users is the scale Finan claims across its merchant base in Vietnam.
• US$5 billion is the transaction value Finan says has moved through its systems.

The raise also follows a US$4 million seed round in 2021, which came across two tranches. That history matters because this is no longer a quarantine-era tool trying to help shops sell online. It is trying to become the business record that banks read first.

Why Hong Leong Wants the Cash Register

Hong Leong Bank’s interest did not start with the financing. In October, Hong Leong Bank’s partnership note with So Ban Hang described an all-in-one financial management solution with in-app account opening, automatic record keeping, tax-compliant quick response payments (QR, a scannable payment code) and e-invoice issuance.

That is a banking distribution play hidden inside merchant software. A corner shop owner may not open a separate business banking app every morning. But the same owner may open a sales app to check yesterday’s receipts, unpaid balances and stock. Put account opening or financing in that workflow and the bank meets the merchant at the point of need.

Hong Leong Bank Vietnam also framed the partnership around micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs, firms below large corporate scale). Its note cited Asia SME Monitor data saying MSMEs accounted for more than 97 percent of all enterprises and about 59 percent of total employment in Vietnam in 2022. The appeal is not one big borrower. It is thousands of small borrowers whose sales activity becomes more legible.

The Cap Table Shows Two Different Motives

The investor mix is small, but it is not random. Hong Leong brings a bank’s need for future customers. OSK-SBI brings a regional venture lens. FEBE Ventures and Antler bring earlier founder-stage familiarity with the company.

OSK-SBI’s timing is notable. In its second fund launch release, the Kuala Lumpur firm said its newer fund would invest across Southeast Asian technology companies from Series A to pre-IPO, including financial services and enterprise software. Finan sits close to both buckets.

Shinhan Store Shows the Bank App Endgame

The clearest preview is not the round itself. It is Shinhan Store, a separate app launched through Finan’s partnership with Shinhan Bank Vietnam. The official Shinhan Store launch release says the product lets merchants manage orders, track revenue, issue electronic invoices, monitor balances, open accounts and register for loans within one application.

That bundle changes the order of bank onboarding. Instead of asking a shopkeeper to become a bank customer first and a software user later, the model starts with sales management. Banking services arrive only after the app has earned a place in the store’s routine.

The credit angle is the important part. A lender that sees steady revenue, seasonal dips, unpaid invoices and inventory turnover has a better shot at building a credit file for a merchant with little collateral. That does not remove lending risk. It changes what the risk team can measure.

Vietnam’s Household Merchants Are the Prize

Finan’s pitch rests on a simple fact: Vietnam has a vast layer of family shops, market sellers, service stalls and online micro-merchants that are economically active but often poorly documented. Finan’s announcement described more than 5 million household businesses and small enterprises as the pool now moving toward digital tools because of e-invoicing, tax reporting, QR payments and digital banking.

Cash Records

Manual books are cheap until a lender asks for evidence. A notebook can tell the owner what came in yesterday, but it rarely gives a bank enough structured information to price credit. A mobile sales ledger turns that mess into dated, searchable records.

Tax Pressure

Compliance is another push. When electronic invoices and tighter reporting arrive, software stops being a nice upgrade and becomes a way to avoid penalties. The same transaction trail that supports tax reporting can support loan underwriting if permission and data controls are handled properly.

Loan Access

The International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group, said in its digital finance inclusion agenda for Viet Nam that digital tools such as alternative data models and open banking can improve small-business financing. That is the lane Finan is trying to occupy, with the bank not at the edge of the product but built into the workflow.

Finan One Raises the Stakes

The next product promise is broader than sales management. Finan says Finan One will use existing transaction data to automate repeated tasks, forecast cash flow and help owners make faster operating decisions. That is ambitious for merchants who may still be moving from paper to mobile records.

There is also a payments layer. Finan’s announcement says the company has worked with Mastercard, and Mastercard’s own commercial virtual cards primer describes virtual cards as temporary card numbers linked to a funding account, often tied into accounting or expense systems. For a small business, that can mean cleaner spend controls and easier reconciliation if it is packaged simply enough.

The danger is product creep. A merchant app that begins with orders and invoices can become too heavy if it asks a shopkeeper to learn banking, tax, credit, cards, accounting and AI prompts at once. Finan’s target of one million enterprises will depend less on feature count than on whether the app still feels lighter than the paper book it replaced.

The Risk Sits in the Ledger

Embedded finance works only when the base record is trusted. If merchants enter partial sales, mix personal and business cash, or skip inventory updates, the data trail can flatter the business or punish it unfairly. Banks love structured data, but bad structured data travels faster than bad paper.

• Merchant consent must be clear, especially when app activity informs credit offers.
• Loan models need safeguards for seasonal businesses, family labor and cash-heavy sales.
• Bank partners must avoid turning a useful app into a hard-sell lending channel.
• Regional expansion will require local tax, payments and licensing work market by market.

That is why the round should be read as a bank experiment as much as a startup milestone. If Finan can keep merchants using the ledger and persuade lenders that the data is reliable, the new capital becomes a bridge from shop software to working-capital finance. If the ledger gets noisy, the whole promise stays stuck at bookkeeping.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not provide investment, banking or credit advice. Private funding rounds and embedded finance products carry business, lending and regulatory risks. Consult a qualified professional before making financial decisions. Figures are accurate as of publication.