Philippines’ first neobank Tonik raises $17m in pre-Series B funding

Tonik, the first pure digital bank in the Philippines, has raised $17 million in pre-Series B funding round led by Singapore venture capital firm iGlobe Partners, according to an announcement.

The latest funding, which raised Tonik’s total funds to date to $44 million, came after the digital bank’s public launch in March 2021. In just under one month, the bank said it secured over $20 million in retail deposits.

Tonik said it will use the fresh capital for the acceleration of customer acquisition as well as the rollout of additional lending and payment products.

The funding round was also participated by existing investors Sequoia India, Altara Ventures, and Insignia Venture Partners as well as new investors Citius, Baring Vostok Capital Partners, and multiple Philippine family offices. 

“The new funding will help us accelerate our growth, as well as invest aggressively in product development. In the course of the next 12 months, we plan to significantly broaden our stack of first-in-the-market digital financial products for our clients, especially strengthening our offer on payments and rolling out consumer loans,” according to Tonik founder and CEO Greg Krasnov.

The launch of the neobank in March comes as data from the World Bank showed that only 34.6% of adult Filipinos have formal bank accounts. The Bangkok Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the country’s central bank, wants to raise this to 70% by 2023.

The study showed more Filipinos will be keen on digital financial transactions by 2025, with 75% of total payments expected to be done electronically and with 80% of customers seen registering new accounts with institutions other than their primary banks.

“The customer response to our launch last month was overwhelmingly positive. We are delighted that so many Filipinos are taking advantage of our unique service and attractive deposit rates, to enable them to dream big and save bigger,” Krasnov said.

Tonik offers deposit interest rates of up to 6% per annum, and unique saving features such as its Solo Stash and Group Stash products, as well as Term Deposits.

The bank is supervised by the BSP and deposits are insured by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC).