Philippines

Clearer laws, better funding: A startup wishlist for Philippine regulators

TechNode Global’s series on the Philippines delves into why Filipino startups are attracting venture capital (VC) money in droves. In this fourth and final part, TechNode Global recaps recent government initiatives to spur the Philippine startup ecosystem, and get Philippine founders’ regulatory wishlists.

US’s LEET Technology partners with Philippines’ Smart Communications to develop online esports gaming platform in the Philippines

LEET Technology Inc. (LEET) has partnered with Smart Communications Inc. (Smart), to develop Smart GIGA Arena, the first all-in-one online esports gaming platform in the Philippines. Enabling Filipinos to pursue their mobile gaming passion, Smart GIGA Arena is built on a proprietary esports and social gaming platform, by LEET. This platform on the fastest…

Philippines social commerce startup SariSuki bags $7.1M from regional and global investors

SariSuki has raised $7.1 million from regional and global investors, bringing its total funding to $10.7 million in 2021. Venture capital investors included Openspace, Susquehanna International Group (SIG), Global Founders Capital (GFC), Saison Capital, JG Digital Equity Ventures, and Foxmont Capital Partners are amongst those who participated in the round.…

Finding a niche in the Philippines’ Iron Triangle

In this third part, we explore how much Covid-accelerated digitization boosted the country’s ‘Iron Triangle’ – e-commerce, logistics, and fintech – startups, and how the startup Davids are battling the Goliath super apps to carve out their own niches.

Philippine payments platform PayMongo raises $31M in Series B funding

PayMongo 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. Also joining the round are founders of top European fintech…

Vietnam’s Society Pass completes acquisition of Philippines online grocery delivery service Pushkart.ph

Society Pass Incorporated (SoPa) has acquired Pushkart.ph, an online grocery delivery service in Philippines. The move kicks-off SoPa’s expansion into the Philippines market. Leveraging on SoPa’s capital, Pushkart.ph will focus on dramatically increasing on-demand grocery shopping services to more consumers and more retailers initially to Metro Manila and…

Japan’s Mizuho Bank leads neobank Tonik’s $131M Series B

Mizuho Bank, one of Japan's largest banking groups, is the latest big backer of Philippine digital bank Tonik, leading its $131 million Series B round of funding.

Philippine E-commerce enabler Etaily banks $4.3M round to drive regional expansion, O2O platform

Etaily, a fast-growing Philippines-based e-commerce-enabler led by former Zalora executives, announced today that it has wrapped up a $4.3 million seed extension round, on top of its initial $1.6 million funding round announced in August 2021.

KKR leads series C round in Philippine B2B platform GrowSari with $45M investment

KKR and GrowSari announced Wednesday the signing of definitive agreements under which KKR will invest $45 million to lead GrowSari’s Series C funding round. KKR’s investment in GrowSari will support the company’s expansion into more regions across the Philippines and strengthen its financial services capabilities,

Singapore EdTech firm ErudiFi raises debt facility of $15M with Helicap

ErudiFi has secured a debt facility of $15 million from Helicap. This funding round will help support the firm in providing for the needs of students across the Philippines and Indonesia, by offering them affordable tuition installment plans.