Woowa Brothers-backed food delivery service Baemin will shut down its Vietnammm app by the end of January 2021, Baemin Vietnam chief operating officer Nguyen Trung Thanh has confirmed to Tech in Asia. Baemin acquired the app in May 2019.
In an email response to Tech in Asia, Nguyen said that the move is meant to “streamline [its] operations,” and that Baemin “will be able to serve Vietnammm’s customers well with its large merchant collection and driver fleet.” He added that members of the Vietnammm team will be taking on new roles in Baemin’s operations.
Founded in 2011, Vietnammm was one of the earliest players in Vietnam’s food delivery scene and has been the preferred choice of the expat communities in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. In 2015, it acquired Foodpanda’s Vietnam operations from Rocket Internet for a reported amount of USD 500,000.
Baemin quickly snapped up Vietnammm upon its entrance into the country in May 2019. The South Korean food delivery firm is currently operating only within Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with a focus on serving inner districts for better optimization, including reducing delivery time.
Baemin is part of Woowa Brothers, a South Korean tech unicorn that was bought by DeliveryHero in a USD 4 billion deal announced last December.
Vietnam’s food delivery market is very competitive, with companies spending aggressively to lure merchants and consumers. Its biggest players currently are GrabFood, Now.vn (part of the Sea Group), and Gojek’s GoFood.
This article was originally published by Tech in Asia.