The theme of Bot Bán Hàng platform. The start-up received US$500,000 investment from NextTech Group. — Photo courtesy of NextTech Group

HÀ NỘI — NextTech Group on Monday announced it will invest US$500,000 into Chatbot Việt Nam Technology Joint Stock Company, which runs Bot Bán Hàng – a chatbot platform for sellers and advertisers in Việt Nam.

The investment through the group’s start-up fund Next100 aims to support small and medium enterprises and shops to maximise trading time on Facebook amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bot Bán Hàng, one of the first Vietnamese-made chatbot platforms, provides online chat conversation via text for businesses and sellers. The platform helps manage supply chain by building potential customers, interacting with customers, increasing revenue and saving time and human resource costs.

The platform has been used at many agencies and businesses such as the Ministry of Science and Technology, VTC, Cốc Cốc, Vinmart, VnPay, VinID, Grab and Viettelpost. More than 14,700 firms have installed the platform with some 10 million users from five countries and territories including Việt Nam, Taiwan, the US, South Korea and Japan.

The company’s CEO Lê Anh Tiến said: “Bot Bán Hàng is expected to become a super-platform acting as a useful sales tool in the context of rising demand for online sales and the trend of automation in the business activities”.

Nguyễn Hòa Bình, NextTech’s CEO said developing chatbots has been one of common trends for start-ups in the world and Việt Nam since 2017.

“I believe chatbots could create an ecosystem connecting users and bringing changes to the world’s technology and trade situation. Especially, firms are urged to accelerate digital transformation after damages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the reason that NextTech Group invested in the platform,” he said.

Established in 2017, Bot Bán Hàng has received many big prizes such as the excellent E-Business project of WSIS Prize 2019 and 'People’s Choice Award' at the Asean Rice Bowl Startup Awards 2019. — VNS