[Photo provided by Woowa Brothers Corp.]

South Korea’s Woowa Brothers Corp., a Seoul-based startup that operates the country’s most popular food delivery app, “Baedal Minjok,” will launch service in Vietnam next month to ride on Korean fever in the market that has become the country’s third biggest trade partner.

Woowa Brothers said on Tuesday that it will launch its food delivery service app early next month in Vietnam after completing beta service test. Service will be offered first in Ho Chi Minh, the largest city in Vietnam by population, before it expands to other cities including the capital Hanoi.

The “Baemin” app in Vietnam – an abbreviation of Baedal Minjok – is currently available for download through App Store or Google Play.

The app launch comes after Woowa Brothers acquired Vietnam’s online food ordering platform Vietnammm – founded in 2011 – in February. Local media VN Express said new player Baemin in Vietnam “will face strong competition from local and foreign firms” in the crowded delivery market.

GrabFood, the food delivery service app run by Southeast Asia’s largest ride-hailing firm Grab, entered the Vietnamese market in June, last year. Grab said the number of orders for GrabFood surged 25 times over the last year.

Go-Viet, food delivery service launched by Go-Jek, a transportation network company in Indonesia, and local firm Now, are also engaged in fierce competition to gain more market share.

Global market research firm Euromonitor projected Vietnam’s food delivery market to reach $38 million next year, up from $33 million last year.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]