FastGo, a Vietnamese car hailing application, is accelerating its South-east Asia expansion with plans to enter four more countries in the region, starting with Singapore this April.
The Lion City is the third country FastGo is officially launching in, after Vietnam and Myanmar. FastGo also has plans to make its application available in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines in 2019.
FastGo will officially open registrations to driver-partners in Singapore. The application will be available to customers from April 30, 2019.
The company in June 2018 started ride-hailing service in Vietnam after Uber withdrew from the South-east Asian market. In December 2018, in cooperation with Asia Sun Group, it launched its application in Yangon. FastGo is currently one of the top two ride-hailing applications in Vietnam, with nearly 60,000 driver partners in 10 provinces and cities.
Instead of collecting a commission fee from its driver-partners, the company charges a fixed daily subscription fee, tiered according to driver’s income.
In the Singapore market, FastGo expects to charge an amount lower than US$5 if the driver’s income is over US$30 per day. If the driver’s income is lower than US$30 per day, FastGo will not charge any service fee.
Another point of difference is that FastGo customers do not pay a surcharge during peak hours – although the application allows customers to use the Tip function when booking a ride, or choose Priority services.
FastGo expects this strategy to more swiftly attract driver-partners and customers at a low cost.
Nguyen Huu Tuat, founder and chairman FastGo, commented: “Despite of being a follower, FastGo’s model brings the best economic benefit to the drivers and customers. Any FastGo ride will always be cheaper than the others.”
What it saves in customer acquisition costs can then go into improving products and service quality, according to Nguyen.
Nguyen added that customers’ safety is “ensured with FastGo insurance package”.
FastGo’s three main ride-hailing service types are FastCar, FastTaxi and FastBike. In addition to those, the company is also preparing to launch FastExpress, FastCare and FastLend services.
The company is a member of NextTech Group, one of Vietnam’s leading Internet players in e-commerce, payment and logistics. In August 2018, the startup received a Series A investment from VinaCapital Ventures. The company is mobilising Series B investments to expand.
