Fintech Voyager Raises $ 120 Million to Become Second Philippine Unicorn

KONTAN.CO.ID - MANILA, April 12 (Reuters) - Philippine technology startup Voyager Innovations said on Tuesday it has raised $210 million in its latest funding round, making the company the country's second "unicorn" with a valuation of more than $1 billion.

Voyager, which serves 47 million people through its consumer platforms that include e-wallet and digital payments, said the fresh capital will fund its digital banking venture and other services like cryptocurrency and micro-investments.

SIG Venture Capital, the Asian venture capital arm of SIG, Singapore-based global investor EDBI, and investment holding company First Pacific Company Ltd, participated in the funding round as new investors, Voyager said.

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Voyager's existing shareholders like PLDT, private equity firm KKR & Co, China's Tencent Holdings Ltd and International Finance Corp (IFC) also joined the capital injection.

The latest funding increased the valuation of Voyager to $1.4 billion, it said. In June, Voyager raised $167 million for its expansion programme, bringing in a unit of the World Bank Group's IFC as a new investor.

Voyager's rival, Mynt, is the only other Philippine unicorn, or startups that have reached at least $1 billion in valuation. Mynt is partly owned by Globe Telecom, Bow Wave and Ant Financial, the financial technology arm of Alibaba 9988.HK.

The Philippines is among the fastest-growing fintech markets in Southeast Asia, with adoption of digital services surging during the pandemic. Its internet economy grew 93% to $17 billion in 2021, and is expected to expand to $40 billion by 2025, according to a report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Co.