Voyager Innovations, the leading technology company in the Philippines, and parent company of PayMaya, one of the most popular payment and financial services applications in the country, announced that it has received $167 million in new investment to develop other financial services, including a digital bank.
Voyager secures US$167M for PayMaya expansion into financial services, digital banking
The total amount raised is $121 million in new financing and $46 million in previously pledged funds. Voyager stated that in April 2020 that it has secured investment commitments of up to $120 million from PLDT, KKR, Tencent, the International Finance Group (IFC), and the IFC Emerging Asia Fund.
The latest capital came from existing shareholders PLDT, one of the country’s largest telecoms, KKR and Tencent, and new investors, including IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund, managed by IFC AMC, a member of the World Bank Group (another one of Voyager’s investors).
Voyager’s total raised since 2018 now stands at $452 million.
Along with competitors GCash and Coins, PayMaya is one of the most popular financial “super apps” in the Philippines. Its services include a digital wallet, online remittances, bill payments, bank transfers, prepaid cards, and an e-commerce feature called PayMaya Mall that connects consumers to 350 merchants.
In its funding announcement today, Voyager said it has applied for a digital bank license with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Philippines’ central bank. A representative for Voyager said the digital bank will launch about six months after Voyager secures its license.
PayMaya has more than 250,000 digital-finance access touchpoints, like convenience stores, where users can top-up their accounts. Voyager says this is seven times the number of ATM and bank branches in the Philippines, making PayMaya more accessible than traditional banks, especially in remote or rural areas.
In the Philippines, only one in three Filipino adults has a formal bank account and has loans. Of those who have loans, only 3% have borrowed from banks, and more than 77% and 75% of the population do not have insurance and investments, respectively.1
PayMaya and Smart Padala by PayMaya, its remittance service, claim its total registered users doubled over 18 months to 38 million as of June 2021. This year, Voyager also began expanding PayMaya’s services with working capital loans for micro- to mid-sized businesses through PayMaya Lending Corp, and PayMaya Protect insurance policies for health coverage and devices.2
ALSO READ: PayMaya users get free COVID-19 insurance coverage
For more news and updates from PayMaya’s products and services, visit www.PayMaya.com or follow PayMaya on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
To know more about Voyager Innovations, Inc., visit www.voyagerinnovation.com/about-us today.
Footnotes
- Based on the BSP 2019 Financial Inclusion Survey
- With premiums that can cost less than ₱1 (US$0.02) daily for cracked screens, water damage, and other incidents; US$1 = ₱48.8
