Author: Tom Noda

Global investment firm KKR, and China-based internet services provider Tencent Holdings Ltd separately acquired a substantial minority stake worth $175 million in Philippine-based fintech company Voyager Innovations, marking the largest investment to date in a Philippine technology company. The latest external funding in Voyager is expected to further boost financial inclusion and access to mobile internet for Filipinos. Voyager is the fintech arm of PLDT Inc, the Philippines’ largest telecommunications and digital services provider. Tencent’s investment is obviously a direct challenge to its mobile payment competitor Alibaba Group Holding whose affiliate Ant Financial Services Group bought in 45 per cent…

Philippine-based fintech startup First Circle has raised fresh investments of $26 million (P1.5 billion) in a Series A round led by Venturra Capital even as it launched a new credit facility backed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The funding round is a follow-on investment from international firms Insignia Ventures Partners, Silverhorn Investment Advisors, and tryb Group underscoring continued strong venture capital (VC) interest in Southeast Asia. First Circle is using the fund for its new P1.5 billion online-based credit facility as part of its nationwide business expansion while it plans…

It’s been a year now since Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas (BSP) issued the guidelines for cryptocurrency exchanges in the Philippines, and from then on, 6 companies have been registered with the regulator. While cryptocurrency enthusiasts may rejoice that the regulator is becoming increasingly progressive towards cryptocurrency — BSP has made it very clear that it does not endorse Bitcoin or any other form cryptocurrency as legal tender. Similar to Malaysia’s recent guidelines, this policy document is made for anti-money laundering and to counter terrorism financing. The policy document seems to gear towards regulating cryptocurrency exchanges to serve a remittance and…

The Philippine central bank has issued another virtual currency exchange (VCE) license to a blockchain company, now the 6th in the country, even as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has set the launching of its draft of crypto-trading rules. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has accredited Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX), a blockchain startup that seeks to establish itself as a crypto-trading platform catering specifically to Filipinos. PDAX, whose legal entity name is Fyntegrate Inc, founded in 2017, now stands alongside five other blockchain-enabled entities with a VCE license ― namely Betur Inc (of Coins.ph), Rebittance (of SCI…

Fintech startups have been popping up in the Philippines these past few years and many of them have attracted angel investors, venture capital firms, including people in the private debt space, seeing potential in their platforms meant to boost financial inclusion. Based on the latest Financial Inclusion Survey by the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the number of Filipino adults with formal bank accounts jumped 22 per cent from 2015 to 2017. However, the total numbers represent only 15.8 million or 22.6 per cent of the Filipino adult population. Below is a list of 14 funded fintech startups in the Philippines…

As a follow up to our previous article highlighting 15 prominent fintech influencers in the Philippines, we now bring you a list of 10 notable blockchain influencers in the country that you should know. Blockchain in a generic sense is a new mode of collaboration applicable across a variety of industries and not just fintech. It is even viewed by many as the “new Web” or “new Internet”. All influencers here, listed in alphabetical order, belong to companies that leverage blockchain technology. John Bailon John is the co-founder and CEO of SCI Ventures Inc who has been building a Bitcoin…

Perhaps  the usual impression of an influencer would mean a person that you can tap into or refer to for marketing purposes either to improve sales or help in educating and convincing target consumers or investors for your business. Indeed some of the important criteria of an influencer are popularity, and a significant social media following. But authenticy and advocacy are two other essential things. In this article, we are featuring influencers in the Philippine fintech industry that mostly meet the two latter criteria. Many of these personalities belong to specific companies that have their own fintech products but they often…

The Philippines is considered by several businessmen as a good testing ground to launch and nurture startups not only because of its low cost of living, and growing young and tech-savvy population that speaks English, but also because there is plenty of room for improvement like bridging the gaps in business services, tech, and financial inclusion of the unbanked, to name a few. And for the past several years the country has seen the birth and consistent development of its local startup ecosystem now composed of a number of incubators and accelerators mostly focused on technopreneurship or tech-enabled ideas and…

A new development estate dubbed Crypto Valley of Asia (CVA) is set to rise in the Philippines designed to push further economic growth in the northern part of the country’s major island of Luzon. Private property developer Northern Star Gaming & Resorts Inc. (Northern Star) together with government-owned and controlled corporation Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) are pooling their resources to build CVA. Both made the announcement on Friday in Cagayan province attended no less than president Rodrigo Duterte. Also envisioned to rise in Crypto Valley are a world-class internet data center, crypto mining firms, self-contained power production facilities, and…

Rapid developments in mobile technology and connectivity have made many jobs and tasks to be online-based that can be done in flexible working conditions. These are just some of the main reasons on why coworking spaces are growing like mushrooms around cities catering mostly digital nomads, telecommuters, startups, freelancers, artists, various professionals, and even students. In the venue online search platform of Flyspaces alone, it gained a list of up to 70 flexible work spaces, sophisticated serviced offices now available in the Philippines. They have their own coworking spaces with hotdesks open to the public, meaning even non-members can use…

Philippine company Regent Blockchain Group, Ltd., has raised up to $4 million in a joint venture deal with US-based diversified holding company PHI Group, Inc. The JV firm to be created will engage in offshore financial center and blockchain businesses, including development of apps, to launch ICOs and cryptocurrency exchanges. It will be located in the Cagayan Economic Zone (CEZA) where a local “fintech city” will soon rise to accomodate fintech companies that are into crypto and blockchain businesses. Based on the agreement, PHI Group’s $4 million investment will secure it a 51 per cent ownership and management rights of…

The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), the Philippines’ “fintech city” developer, has issued its first financial technology solutions and offshore virtual currency (FTSOVC) license to Hong Kong-based blockchain solutions firm Golden Millennial Quickpay. CEZA Corporate Board Secretary Catherine Joy Alameda made the disclosure recently at the 2018 GMQ Global Blockchain Summit Philippines in Pasay City, noting GMQ will be locating at LR Data, a CEZA locator in Sta. Ana, Cagayan, the Philippine News Agency reported. GMQ is expected to hire around 500 personnel, particularly blockchain programmers even as it plans to bring its foreign employees for technical support, and to…

The Philippines’ remittance and international money transfer industry, the third largest globally, is getting a booster from two latest developments in blockchain-backed remittance services. They come from recent business partnerships done by Jack Ma’s Ant Financial Services Group (Ant) and Globe Telecom, including a tie-up between SCI Ventures Inc and Lala World. Jack Ma’s Ant, Globe Telecom launch cross-border remittance service A new digital wallet remittance solution designed for real-time cross-border transfer of money directly between individuals in Hong Kong and the Philippines was formally launched by mobile e-wallets AlipayHK and GCash powered by a blockchain technology developed by Alipay,…

The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), a Philippine government-owned and-controlled corporation tasked to develop the “fintech city” in the country, is planning to limit to 25 the number of licenses it issues to cryptocurrency exchanges. CEZA administrator and CEO Raul Lambino disclosed the plan in the recent Global Blockchain Summit where he also noted that the investment promotion agency (IPA), which he also supervises, is in the process of crafting regulations that will protect those investing in cryptocurrency. CEZA is mandated to manage and supervise the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Free Port (CSEZFP) development, where the upcoming $100 million…

Philippine fintech startup Acudeen Technologies Inc announced a sold out of its digital coin offering the ACU Token on Sunday, June 10, raising up to $35 million. Held in Singapore, Acudeen’s token sale was a global one and is designed tokenizing several of its services. The two-year-old startup does receivable financing, a P2P (peer-to-peer) invoice marketplace that allows SMEs to convert their unclaimed receivables for cash to boost their cash flow. “We are proud to announce that ALL of our ACU Tokens allocated for public consumption have been sold. Technically speaking, we haven’t realized the full $35,000,000 amount yet as…

“Nine out of 10 startups fail” is a popular buzz phrase accepted by many as plain and simple truth, while some even say success is 99 per cent failure. For the past few years, Fintech News Network has featured numerous startups in the Philippines engaged in fintech and blockchain and they were mostly about what they are. In this latest top 10 local fintech startups, it features some of those startups focusing on their achievements, present status, new innovations, and future plans. Here we go: Acudeen “All tokens have been sold!” The Acudeen Technologies Inc team made this announcement on…

As majority of the Philippine population remains to be unserved and underserved by banks, the launching of digital peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms in the country have been consistent for the last four years. The P2P method is touted as a disruptive force designed to allow almost everyone to be either a lender or borrower while observing credibility and security. Introduced in the UK 13 years ago, P2P lending is a recent phenomenon in the field of financial services if compared to traditional banking that has “remained largely unaltered for 200 years or so in the terms of the fundamentals of…

The plan to create a “fintech city” in the Philippines will be pushing through as rules and regulations have been issued by the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), a government-owned and-controlled corporation tasked to manage and supervise the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Free Port (CSEZFP) development. The upcoming hub will be built within the CSEZFP that will house a fintech startup incubator, cryptocurrency mining farm, cryptocurrency exchange, and a blockchain center. CEZA’s regulations will also include licensing of ICO projects. About 15 parties engaged in virtual currency, and blockchain, are likely to operate within the first Philippine fintech hub.…

Sprout Solutions, a Philippine-based Human Resource and payroll systems startup, has raised $1.6 million in a seed round led by Kickstart Ventures, along with Wavemaker Partners, Beenext, and one private investor. The company plans to use the proceeds to further expand its artificial intelligence (AI) products for enterprise-level companies. Co-founded in 2015 by husband and wife Patrick and Alex Gentry, Sprout bootstrapped its way to more than 200 clients, including some of the largest ones in the Philippines. Kickstart Ventures president Minette Navarette, cited Sprout’s potential in becoming a global HR systems and payroll management firm. She noted people and…

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) or central bank of the Philippines has released its latest update on Virtual Currency (VC) contained in one image. It explained the differences between virtual currencies, e-Money, and Fiat/Real Currency. Featured image via BSP Facebook page