Mekong Enterprise Fund IV completed an investment of US$10.2 million in Rever

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (18 August 2021) – Mekong Capital announces that the Mekong Enterprise Fund IV (MEF IV) invested US$10.2 million into Rever.

Founded in 2016, Rever is one of the pioneering proptech^[1] companies in Vietnam that operates an Online – to – Offline real estate brokerage model, where customers can access listings via its platform or visit its local transaction center in tandem with in-person service from real estate agents within the area.

Rever differentiates itself by leveraging an automated system to verify its listings, ensuring what customers see (online) is truly available for purchase, thus making the home buying process transparent for home buyers and home sellers.

After 5 years, Rever emerged to be one of the leading the proptech companies with more than 50,000 verified listings. Moreover, consecutively in 2019 and 2020, Rever was awarded ‘Top 10 best real estate brokerage’ by Reatimes Magazine and the Vietnam Real Estate Research Institute.

The investment of MEF IV will enable Rever to further strengthen its management team, its culture, and its digital transformation. As a result, Rever will have access to the resources needed to achieve its vision: to become the top proptech company in Vietnam through transforming the brokerage market.

[1] proptech = property technology: the application of information technology to real estate markets.

Mr. Phan Le Manh, Co-Founder, and CEO of Rever, said:

“People usually think that cash flow is important for start-ups. But for Rever, what’s more important is that we need a partner who believes in our vision, and is willing to create space and support the team along the way to that vision. I am very impressed with Chris, Mekong Capital’s Partner and Founder, by the story he told about the way to build culture and the team at Mekong Capital, who are passionate about the Founder’s vision, and the commitment to the company’s development journey.

I even experienced it more clearly during the time working together. So, I believe this is the companion we need with the team to share the big adventure ahead.”

Mr. Sjoerd Zwinkels, Mekong Capital’s Deal Leader for Rever, said:

“What really attracted me to Rever is its amazing co-founders and leadership team, who are authentically committed to a big vision of transforming the Real Estate market in Vietnam. This is strongly connected to my personal purpose to impact millions of lives in Vietnam and uplift Vietnam by fulfilling the visions of founders.

It’s exciting to see how the leadership team of Rever embraced Mekong Capital’s Vision Driven Investing framework as their own. Together with the leadership team and existing investors, we will achieve the Rever vision.”

About Rever

Rever is an Online – to – Offline real estate brokerage company in Vietnam that was established in 2016 by 2 co-founders by Phan Le Manh as CEO, Vo Thang Loi as CTO. Phan Le Manh and Vo Thang Loi are longtime teammates when they both worked for Zalo (under VNG), the most popular and made-in-Vietnam chatting and social platform.

Seeing the opportunity in Vietnam’s fragmented real estate market and the rising needs of homeownership from the tech-savvy population, the founders decided to set up Rever (meaning ‘dream’ in French) as a proptech company with a mission to transform the brokerage market in Vietnam through cutting-edge technology, enabling more people to access their ‘dreams’ of homeownership easier.

In the early days, instead of pursuing vigorous expansion for market share, the founders spent substantial time and effort to develop a strong management team and provide professional training for its agents. This foundation has led Rever to emerge as a promising proptech firm 5 years later.

From just over 80 employees in the early stages of development, Rever now has 300 employees. From a humble beginning of 200 transactions in 2017, in 2020, Rever’s annual transactions grew ten-fold to 2,000 in 2020.

Aiming to become a one-stop-shop for all accommodation-related needs, Rever continues to develop its technology focusing more on its customer experience with a wider range of value-adding tools and services such as loan brokerage, digital furniture fitting, and smart-home solutions.

Looking forward, with the vision to become the top proptech companies in Vietnam, Rever plans to further develop its team and optimize its business while expanding to 20 cities, 200 transaction centers and 20,000 agents 2025.

Rever is the fifth investee company announced by Mekong Enterprise Fund IV.

For more information about Rever, please visit the firm’s website at rever.vn.

About Mekong Capital & Mekong Enterprise Fund IV

Established in 2001, Mekong Capital has the most extensive private equity track record in Vietnam. Their funds have completed 42 private equity investments, of which 28 have been fully exited. Mekong Capital has advised 5 funds, and 2 are currently active.

Mekong Capital’s investee companies have typically been among the fastest-growing companies in Vietnam’s consumer-driven sectors such as retail, restaurants, consumer products, and education. Some of their well-known investment successes include Mobile World, Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ), ICP, Golden Gate, Vietnam Australia International School (VAS), Masan Consumer, Traphaco, Pharmacity, F88, YOLA, Pizza 4P’s, Vua Nem, ABA Cooltrans, and Nhat Tin Logistics.

Mekong Enterprise Fund IV is a private equity fund launched in January 2021 and currently has $246 million in committed capital. Mekong Enterprise Fund IV will continue Mekong Capital’s successful strategy of investing in growth-equity investments in Vietnamese companies and exclusively in proven consumer-driven sectors that benefit from the growth in Vietnamese consumer demand and the adoption of modern business practices. The Fund will focus in particular on retail, education, restaurants, consumer services, FMCG, and health care.

Mekong Enterprise Fund IV applies Mekong Capital’s Transformational Private Equity approach and the Vision Driven Investing framework with an intention to fulfill its commitment for each investee company to achieve its vision.