Lazada Philippines is top internet startup

MANILA, Philippines – The local unit of online shopping mall Lazada emerged as the top Internet startup in the country in terms of generated revenues, according to Forbes magazine.

Forbes’ maiden list of leading Internet startups in the country released this month showed Lazada had gross revenues of P1.1 billion in 2014.

Placing second was mobile content provider Entertainment Gateway with P853.9 million worth of revenues, followed by fashion e-commerce company Zalora with revenues of P465.9 million.

Getting the third and fourth spots were Internet remittance company I-Remit Inc. with revenues amounting to P453.6 million, and Xurpas Inc. with revenues worth P331.8 million.

Those in the sixth to 10th places were instant messaging platform provider Chikka Philippines Inc., gaming firm Level Up! Inc., social news network Rappler Inc., online shopping mall MetroDeal Inc. and online tutoring firm Rare Job Philippines Inc.

Online vehicle booking services apps Grab and Uber also made it to the list, landing on the 11th and 17th places, respectively.

In coming up with the list of 46 leading internet startups in the country, Forbes used an initial inventory of over 200 startups gathered from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), incubators, venture capital funds and other sources.

In August last year, the DOST published a Roadmap for Digital Startups.

Only companies registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and those that reported gross revenue of at least P1 million based on 2014 financial statements, were included in the list.

“Typical of many startups all over the world, the companies in the list are growing fast,” Forbes said in a statement.

On average, the startups saw revenues in 2014 rise by 134 percent compared to the previous year.

Forbes said about half of the companies however, were also losing money.