Two EQuest subsidiaries have filed a lawsuit against a founder for serious misconduct, while the National Competition Commission (NCC) has slapped TikiNow with an $8,000 fine for unfair competition practices.
EQuest units lodge criminal complaint against Ngoi Sao Hanoi founder
Vietnam-based education group EQuest on Wednesday announced that two of its units—Viet My K-12 Education Investment JSC and Ngoi Sao Vietnam Education JSC— have lodged a criminal complaint against Pham Bich Nga, the founder of Ngoi Sao Hanoi Education System; and her associates.
In December 2021, Nga and her group transferred 80% ownership and operational control of the Ngoi Sao Hanoi School and Ngoi Sao Hanoi– Hoang Mai School—to Viet My K-12 Education in a deal worth over 1,000 billion Vietnamese dong (approximately $40 million). Nga was subsequently appointed CEO of Ngoi Sao Vietnam Education.
However, EQuest has now accused Nga of exploiting her position, siphoning off hundreds of billions of dong from the school through unauthorised transactions over the past year. It has further alleged that Nga ceased to cooperate with Viet My K-12, refusing to hand over ownership and management to Ngôi Sao Hoang Mai Education JSC, in which Viet My K-12 holds an 80% stake. Since the school’s official launch, Nga and her team have shown no intent to relinquish control.
Tran Quoc Khanh, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors at EQuest, stated that the company’s shareholders and investors have been involved in thousands of investment deals worldwide. He emphasised that they consistently view safety, credibility, and the rule of law as essential prerequisites when making investment decisions. In this context, he considered the violations linked to Nga to be particularly serious.
In January this year, DealStreetAsia reported that the shareholders of KKR-backed EQuest are understood to have roped in Southeast Asian financial advisor Rippledot Capital to run a sale process for their stakes in the Vietnam-based education group.
TikiNow fined $8K for misleading advertisements
Homegrown logistics and delivery services provider TikiNow has been slapped with a 200-million Vietnamese dong (approximately $8,000) fine by the National Competition Commission (NCC) for unfair competition practices.
According to an NCC document, the penalty stems from misleading advertising that overstated its delivery capabilities to attract customers from rival firms.
The NCC found TikiNow to have violated the Competition Law after it promoted bold claims of “100% nationwide delivery coverage; over 1,000,000 daily orders; and 100,000+ orders processed daily.” These statements were deemed to create confusion about the company’s services, intentionally luring customers from rival firms.
During the investigation, TikiNow demonstrated cooperation by supplying relevant documents and swiftly addressing the issue. The company issued a public correction on June 27 via its website, revising the figures to “expanded delivery coverage across 34 provinces and cities; over 1,000,000 orders processed monthly; and the capacity to handle 100,000+ orders daily.”
Founded in 2013 as the exclusive delivery unit for the Tiki e-commerce platform, TikiNow became an independent entity in 2019, offering warehousing, packaging, and shipping solutions.
In May this year, DealStreetAsia first reported that e-commerce platform Tiki has seen its valuation collapse to less than $10 million—marking one of the steepest declines among Southeast Asia’s late-stage tech startups.
