PH Tech Firm Voyager Receives $120m from Existing Investors

Voyager Innovations, a Philippine-based tech firm that operates financial technology (fintech) platform PayMaya, announced that it received investment commitment of up to $120 million from its existing investors.

In an announcement, Voyager said local telecommunications and digital services provider PLDT, Chinese internet giant Tencent, global investment firm KKR, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the IFC Emerging Asia Fund have agreed to make follow-on investments in the tech firm.

The said investors poured in $125 million into the tech firm in 2018. The fresh funding also comes as government, businesses, and consumers are turning to cashless transactions and digital finance as part of a broader response to present-day challenges.

Voyager said the $120-million investment is part of a broader fundraise for Voyager and is intended to support PayMaya’s rapid growth as it pursues its mission to accelerate digital and financial inclusion in the Philippines. The firm said it is also in talks with other strategic and financial investors.

“This fresh round of investment is a testament to Voyager’s success in providing Filipinos with access to convenient, relevant, and inclusive digital financial services through PayMaya,” the investors said in a joint statement.

It is also a recognition of the significant role that the Philippine financial technology industry can play in providing meaningful digital solutions to many of the crucial and very-human challenges that the Philippine community faces today, the investors added.

Voyager’s PayMaya is the only end-to-end digital payments ecosystem enabler in the Philippines with platforms and services that cuts across consumers, merchants, and government.

Aside from providing the acceptance of the payment for the largest e-commerce, food, retail, and gas merchants in the Philippines, PayMaya is enabling national and social services agencies as well as local government units with digital payments and disbursement services.

Through its PayMaya app and wallet, it is providing millions of Filipinos with the fastest way to own a financial account with over 40,000 Add Money touchpoints nationwide, more than double the total number of traditional bank branches in the Philippines combined.

“Our end-to-end digital financial services are becoming more relevant and embedded in the daily lives of Filipinos – from sending money, buying airtime load, or paying for purchases through our PayMaya wallet,” said Shailesh Baidwan, president of Voyager Innovations and PayMaya Philippines.