MANILA, Philippines — Singapore-headquartered financial technology company UNOAsia Pte. Ltd. (UNOAsia), the primary incorporator of UNO Digital Bank in the Philippines, has raised $11 million in fresh funding through a pre-Series A round led by Creador Private Equity.
Creador has already invested a total of $21 million and has plans to increase this further, making it UNOAsia’s largest investor.
To date, UNOAsia has secured $44.5 million in investment in its pre-seed, seed, and pre-Series A rounds, which includes drawn-down capital of $34 million.
Manish Bhai, CEO of UNO Digital Bank said the pre-Series A round led by Creador reflects continued investor confidence in the digital bank.
“The additional capital will help us to further invest to support our growth, as well as see us through the commercial launch of UNO Digital Bank, which is now a live operating bank under closed-loop beta,” Bhai said.
Omar Mahmoud, managing director of Creador, said 45 million of the 70 million adult population in the Philippines are underbanked, limiting their access to financial services and the assistance they need to purchase homes, further their education, reduce their debt, invest in businesses, and ultimately improve their lives.
“Our investment in UNOAsia will allow us to promote financial inclusion in a Philippines where only 10 percent of Filipinos borrow from the organized sector, which in turn would make a positive impact on millions of Filipinos and the broader community,” Mahmoud said.
The investors of UNOAsia include founders Manish Bhai and Kalidas Ghose, Creador Private Equity, marquee investors Akash Bhanshali (Payash Securities), Samir Arora (Helios Capital) and other senior investors from the banking and financial sectors.
UNOAsia has strategic plans to ultimately create a regional business, expanding beyond the Philippines over the next few years.
UNO Digital Bank is a full-spectrum credit-led digital bank licensed under the Digital Banking License framework promulgated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.