Fintech bids support for PH startups, MSMEs

SUPPORT. Financial technology firm Xendit vows to continue to support local micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and startups after raising additional capital. Xendit CEO and Managing Director Yang Yang Zhang said they also intend to support Filipinas who want to pursue education in technology. (Photo from Xendit)

MANILA – Financial technology firm Xendit bids to further help small businesses and startups in the Philippines after raising an additional USD300-million funding.

In a virtual briefing on Friday, Xendit Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director for Philippine operations Yang Yang Zhang said their latest capital boost, which came from several investors like Accel, Tiger Global, and Kleiner Perkins, brought to USD538 million the capital they have raised so far.

She said they want to continue supporting startups and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) just like how they got the same boost a few years back.

“(We intend to) invest directly in startups…. We want to put where our mouth is,” she said.

The company started operations in Indonesia, but Zhang said they consider the Philippines their home, thus, the support to domestic enterprises.

Zhang said they also want to empower women by providing technological education, and non-profit organizations by providing subsidies.

“As a woman who has spent her entire career in male-dominated tech industries, I am deeply invested in lowering the barriers to entry for Filipino women interested in technology. Education has always been the fastest way to level the playing field, and I’m so happy that Xendit will be investing directly into making tech education and career training more accessible for Filipinas everywhere,” she said.

She explained that optimism in their domestic operations is due in part to growth opportunities for digital transfers and the strong policy support by the government to the sector.

She said Xendit has registered a more than 10-percent monthly sales growth globally since it started operations in 2016 but its domestic operations have been posting around 30 percent month-on-month.

She said the company has tripled the annualized transactions from sixty-five million to two hundred million, bringing the total payment value to date to USD15 billion from US6.5 billion.

She said regulators like the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas are also open to innovation, which is a plus for the economy.

“From just a handful of scrappy multi-taskers, our local team has expanded continuously as we serve more and more Filipino businesses of all sizes. We’re so excited to funnel our funding back to the Philippines to pave the way for other Filipino startups, establish partnerships with local communities, and support regulators in their digitization goals,” she added. (PNA)

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