Manila-based insurtech startup Saphron has raised SGD1.35 million seed fund coming from fintech-focused VC fund Sage, and Talino Labs, a venture lab that supports companies engaged in digital transformation. Founded recently by solutions architect Francisco “Kiko” Reyes Jr, Saphron plans to use the fresh capital to address the financial inclusion gap in the Philippines by making the delivery of insurance radically accessible. The startup aims to enable clients develop technologies that transform consumer experiences. Sage and Talino Labs, in a joint statement, expressed optimism in Saphron’s capability “to launch transformative platforms that solve real needs, by way of intelligent, cutting…
Author: Fintech News Philippines
Author
Read More
Crypto-exchange platform Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX) has raised an undisclosed amount of investment made by ConsenSys Ventures, the venture capital arm of US-based blockchain software firm ConsenSys. Founded in 2017 by Nichel Gaba, Krystian Kucharzyk, and Yang Yang Zhang, PDAX is a centralized trading platform that offers Filipinos an order book on which to trade digital assets in an open market for the first time. It is regulated by both the central bank (BSP) and securities regulator (SEC) in the Philippines. PDAX claims it will make ownership of digital assets in the Philippines more accessible because users can cash…
Singapore’s diversified group of companies Citystate Group made a seed investment in Ticket2Me, a blockchain-powered ticketing startup from the Philippines. The startup is now gearing for business expansion in Southeast Asia. Ticket2Me raised $350,000 in fresh capital and reportedly plans to use it to expand operations in major cities outside Metro Manila and Metro Cebu including overseas such as Hong Kong and Malaysia. Founded in 2017, Ticket2Me claims to be “Southeast Asia’s first blockchain-enabled ticketing marketplace” which also does event registration and audience analytics platform for organizers, ticket buyers and everyone else in between. It established a regional office in…
SendFriend, a Philippine-focused remittance market startup, has raised up to US$1.7 million capital in a venture round backed by blockchain giant Ripple also known as the cryptocurrency XRP. Other leading investors include the MIT Lab, Mastercard Foundation, Barclays, Techstars, Mahindra Finance, 2020 Ventures, and 8 Decimal Capital. Founded in 2017, SendFriend is headquartered in Greater New York City that is focused on providing remittance services to millions of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), these workers greatly contribute to the Philippines’ GDP growth by sending money to their families back home. The Philippines’ remittance and international money transfer industry is the third…
Bitcoin machines are on the rise worldwide. Currently, these devices are in 76 countries and now the Philippines have been added to the list. In the capital Manila, the first Bitcoin ATM was set up by UnionBank and Philippine’s central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. The fact that these parties are behind setting up the Bitcoin ATM in Manila shows a trend of growing acceptance for cryptocurrencies in the Philippines. UnionBank justifies its commitment that it must adapt to the “changing needs and tastes of its customers”. Therefore, users of cryptocurrencies should be able to convert their digital currencies to…
Be it formal or casual, blockchain education is becoming a regular thing in the Philippines although its usage in different sectors, education in itself, has yet to be applied. AMBERLab or Ateneo-MediXserve Blockchain Education & Reasearch Lab defines blockchain as “an incorruptible distributed data-based technology and a peer-to-peer transaction system.” AMBERLab is one of the newly-formed organizations that seeks to advance blockchain education in the Philippines. In an exclusive interview with Fintech News Network, ConsenSys Solutions Philippines Lead, Aiai Garcia said there is a growing interest in blockchain education in the Philippines but formal blockchain education in the country is…
UnionBank of the Philippines has set its eyes on revolutionising the supply chain finance in the Philippines through its tie-up with tech giant IBM. IBM Philippines chief technologist Lope Doromal Jr disclosed that UnionBank and IBM are working on a blockchain-based solution. Doromal claimed the cloud-based application is one of the first projects of its kind in the Philippines outside of traditional banking, and is designed to transform trade finance transactions through a permissioned distributed ledger. “Built on the IBM Blockchain Platform, the supply chain finance solution from UnionBank will be available to all their customers and partners who will…
The Philippines’ “fintech city ” Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) has crafted a new set of rules in the acquisition and trading of cryptocurrency assets in the Philippines meant to effectively regulate and protect investors. CEZA disclosed it has approved the Digital Asset Token Offering (DATO) regulations that cover the acquisition of crypto assets, including utility and security tokens. Asia Blockchain and Crypto Association Appointed as a Self Regulatory Organisation While CEZA is the principal regulating authority under the new framework, it has designated the Asia Blockchain and Crypto Association (ABACA) as a self-regulatory organization to help implement and enforce…
A recently-launched venture capital fund by Philippine-based VC company Core Capital and Malaysia-based VC Gobi Partners made its first two investments in a healthtech startup MariaHealth and an edutech firm called Edukasyon.ph. The VC fund Gobi-Core Philippine Fund (PH Fund) is a $10 million fund for seed-stage and pre-Series A companies in the Philippines launched last October. Amounts of the two funding rounds in the local startups were undisclosed. Other investors in MariaHealth’s seed round include Wavemaker and Hustle Fund. Founded in 2015, MariaHealth has partnered with insurance practitioners PhilCare, Maxicare, AsianLife, and MediCard. MariaHealth serves as an online portal…
Thanks to Go-Jek’s diversification strategy, it’s pretty easy to get a glimpse about the company’s future direction based on what companies they’ve acquired or shook hands with. This time around, it’s come out that the US$9 billion-worth company gained a majority stake in Philippine blockchain-based platform Coins.ph. Since their entry into Singapore as a ride-hailing contender, it seems like Go-Jek is interested in going toe-to-toe with Grab in conquering a slice of the Southeast Asian market. For our interests, this is clear in the application of both Go-Pay and GrabPay, the fintech arm of both companies, respectively. We think there’s more to…
With a population of over 100 million, just 31% of adults having a bank account, and a mobile penetration of 58%, the Philippines is a fertile ground for fintech innovation. Currently, only 4% of all transactions are made online in the Philippines, leaving considerable growth opportunities, according to our latest Philippines Fintech Startup Report. The Philippines fintech startup map Fintech is growing steadily in the Philippines with payments currently standing as the most crowded segment, representing 33% of all fintech companies in the Philippines. Payments startups in the Philippines include Ayannah, a leading provider of mobile commerce and payment…