Philippine FinTech and online payments company PayMongo said Monday it has secured $31 million in Series B funding to scale its operations.
Participating in the round are Justin Mateen’s JAM Fund, Philippine VC firms ICCP-SBI Venture Partners and Lisa Gokongwei’s Kaya Founders, together with existing investors Global Founders Capital and SOMA Capital, PayMongo said in a statement.
Also joining the round are founders of top European fintech unicorns and startups Qonto, Viva Wallet, Billie and Scalable.
The round brings the company’s total funding to just under $46 million, following a $12 million Series A round in 2020 and a $2.7 million seed round in 2019.
“This investment is a testament to our growth and the continued growth of our merchants. With this Series B, we will invest further in our merchants’ successes by giving them more means to move money seamlessly online,” said PayMongo Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Francis Plaza.
Since closing its Series A in September 2020, PayMongo has achieved a phenomenal 3 times growth in merchant base and a 4 times growth in monthly transaction volumes. While it caters to businesses of all sizes, the company aims to achieve sustainable growth by serving small (and micro) and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for 99 percent of businesses in the Philippines and have historically been underserved by traditional payment providers.
“As one of PayMongo’s first investors, I’ve seen their path from simplifying payments for a handful of businesses to now being a company that thousands of merchants depend on for their day-to-day operations,” said JAM Fund and Tinder founder Justin Mateen.
“I’m excited by their progress and thrilled to support the team once again as they generate greater economic opportunities through the digital economy,” he said.
PayMongo will scale its operations by strengthening its current payments infrastructure and venturing into more financial services. This involves building products such as disbursements, capital lending, “buy now, pay later,” subscriptions and recurring payments, among many others. It will likewise explore how the Philippines can serve as a springboard for the digital transformation of financial services in other emerging markets.
“While payment acceptance is crucial, it is just one of the many services that entrepreneurs need to build a successful online business. Our goal is to create a one-stop-shop for all these financial needs in the broader Southeast Asian region, starting with the Philippines,” said Plaza.
Cited a report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, PayMongo said the Philippine digital economy is predicted to grow to $40 billion by 2025, having registered the fastest growth rate in Southeast Asia throughout the pandemic. It also noted its growth in recent years has been led by companies and consumers adopting digital platforms and services to embrace the shift to e-commerce.
By strengthening its own capacities, PayMongo aims to lower the barriers to entry for Filipino businesses to the digital economy.
“We are very proud to be supporting PayMongo as our first FinTech investment in ICCP’s Fund VI,” said Miguel Encarnacion, Managing Director at ICCP-SBI Venture Partners.
“As the oldest operating venture capital firm in the Philippines and having invested in Silicon Valley since the 90s, we see the importance of FinTech as a foundational layer for the digital economy. As PayMongo revolutionizes business-to-business payments in our country, they will expedite the growth of many more industries,” he said.
PayMongo was founded in 2019 as a business to business (B2B) fintech company that empowers online businesses to accept the full range of payment options, including credit cards, e-wallets, and over-the-counter payments.
Its standard, easy-to-integrate PayMongo API and e-commerce plugins accelerate internet businesses by lowering integration time with a few lines of code, while its PayMongo Links and Pages products enable businesses to provide a simple digital checkout for their customers—even without a website.