PayMaya operator is Philippines' second 'unicorn' after $210-M fundraising

MANILA, Philippines — Voyager Innovations, the company behind PayMaya, received $210 million in fresh capital from its investors, making it one of the Philippines’ most valuable fintech firms to date.

The fundraising pushed up Voyager’s valuation to nearly $1.4 billion, cementing its status as the Philippines’ second “unicorn” next to “double unicorn” Globe Fintech Innovations Inc. (Mynt), operator of e-wallet GCash, PayMaya’s main rival.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Tuesday, telco giant PLDT Inc., Voyager’s parent company, said the new funds will be used to launch the startup’s nascent digital bank named “Maya Bank”. The neobank will offer services such as savings and credit, which will be offered across PayMaya’s platforms for both consumers and business, including micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.

Some of the proceeds will also go to expanding PayMaya’s offering with new products like cryptocurrency, micro-investments and insurance, among others.

Among the investors that participated in the fundraising were existing shareholders PLDT, global investment firm KKR and Chinese tech giant Tencent.

But the biggest investment came from new shareholder SIG Venture Capital, the Asian venture capital arm of SIG. Other new investors include Singapore-based global investor EDBI and investment holding company First Pacific Company Ltd.

Voyager also received new funding from International Finance Corp. (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group., and its units IFC Emerging Asia Fund and IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund.

The successful fundraising activity comes at a time of intense rivalry between traditional banks and digital startups. Last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas spiced up the competition in the local fintech space after giving digital banking licenses to six players that include Maya Bank.

That said, the fresh capital would boost Voyager’s financial strength amid increasing market competition. As of end-March this year, PayMaya had over 47 million registered users across its consumer platforms.

“With this milestone, we are excited to leap forward and bring the best of PayMaya and Maya Bank to help unlock the digital economy for the underserved and unbanked Filipinos,” Orlando Vea, co-founder of Voyager, said.