F88 is preparing to list on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) within 30 days

According to DealstreetAsia, Vietnamese consumer finance platform F88 is preparing to list on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) within 30 days, after receiving approval from the State Securities Commission. While the move is technically a step below Vietnam’s main stock exchanges, it marks a strategic shift in how late-stage startups are approaching liquidity and long-term capital planning.

F88 originally targeted a full IPO on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) by 2024 but has now extended that timeline to 2027. Rather than being seen as a delay, the UPCoM listing is increasingly viewed as a calculated on-ramp, a transitional stage that allows companies to build public market readiness while maintaining growth momentum.

The company’s financial turnaround supports this phased approach. After reporting a net loss of VND 545 billion in 2023, F88 rebounded with a VND 351 billion (~$13.5 million) profit in 2024 and posted strong Q1 2025 figures: a 25% increase in disbursement, 21.5% revenue growth, and a 204% surge in pre-tax profit. 

To fund further growth, F88 plans to raise VND 700 billion (~$27 million) through bond issuance in 2025 and is seeking a strategic investor in 2026. Backed by notable investors like Mekong Capital, Vietnam Oman Investment, and Granite Oak, and debt providers such as Lending Ark Asia and Lendable, F88’s capital strategy exemplifies the layered, modular financing approach now taking hold in Vietnam.

In Vietnam’s venture ecosystem, once defined by fast fundraising rounds and a “growth-at-all-costs” mentality, F88’s approach marks a clear break from the past. The company's journey shows that the road to becoming a public company is no longer just about raising capital quickly or scaling aggressively. Instead, it now demands real financial discipline: sustained profitability, margin control, and operational transparency.

But financial health alone isn't enough. F88 is also layering its capital sources, using a mix of venture equity, private debt, bonds, and future strategic investment, illustrating how modern startups must diversify funding beyond traditional VC pathways. This multi-tiered financing approach gives companies more flexibility while signaling maturity to the market.

Perhaps most importantly, F88’s UPCoM listing highlights how liquidity itself is evolving. No longer a binary jump from private to IPO, exits are becoming staged processes, where startups use intermediate steps like bond issuance or secondary exchanges to build public trust, test investor appetite, and de-risk their eventual market debut.

The message is clear: building a company today means architecting not just a product, but an integrated capital strategy. Exits are not singular events, they’re designed, sequenced, and signaled long in advance.

For both founders and investors, the message is clear: building a company today is not just about developing a product, but about architecting a comprehensive capital strategy. An exit is no longer a one-time event—it’s a carefully designed and sequenced journey that starts early.

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