Philippine fintech startup NextPay nets $1.6m in seed funding

NextPay, a financial technology startup in the Philippines, announced raising $1.6 million in seed funding round co-led by Singapore-based venture capital firm Golden Gate Ventures and local venture investor Gentree Fund.

Local investors in the funding round include Kickstart Ventures of the Ayala Group, Foxmont Capital, and First Asia Ventures, as well as angel investor Lisa Gokongwei of JG Summit, among many others.

The funding round was also participated by foreign investors, including Tribe Capital, Broadhaven Ventures, 1982 Ventures, Saison Capital, Razorpay, and Goodwater Capital.

NextPay said it will use the seed funding to grow its suite of services, expand its strong customer base, and introduce new digital banking solutions to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

“We believe that business banking will continue to digitally evolve, as the Philippines accelerates its digital transformation initiatives. This investment supports our goal of putting the power of big banks in the hands of small businesses,” NextPay CEO and co-founder Don Pansacola said.

The fundraising marks a milestone for NextPay after graduating from Y-Combinator program in April, when it received $125,000 in pre-seed investment.

Launched amid the pandemic in 2020, NextPay providers growing companies, entrepreneurs, and freelancers with a spectrum of digital financial services that were previously unavailable to them because of the steep requirements and high fees that are typically aimed at larger, more developed companies that can afford them.

The fintech platform provides underserved customers democratized access to easy and affordable financial services such as digital invoicing, cash management, and batch payments to any bank or e-wallet in the Philippines.

Since its launch in 2020, NextPay has processed over $9.1 million in digital transactions for more than 100 businesses with over 3500 employees.

Through its pay-per-use model, NextPay offers competitive fees that are lower than usual banking rates. Customers of NextPay also enjoy reduced processing times from as much as 3 days to just 30 minutes or less.

“The success of our seed funding exercise will help us accelerate our plans of introducing more meaningful digital banking solutions, including, but not limited to, corporate cards, loans, and integrations with other platforms focused on MSMEs,” NextPay Chief Experience Officer and co-founder Aldrich Tan said.