Globe Fintech Innovations of the Philippines, the FinTech arm of Globe Telecom and the operator of the mobile wallet GCash, has landed $175 million in additional venture funding. In a press release, Globe Fintech, known as Mynt, said Bow Wave Capital Management and other existing investors all participated in the fundraise.
The overall deal values Mynt at close to $1 billion. On its website, the Manila-based company says it is a FinTech “startup partnership” between Globe Telecom, the Ayala Corp. and China-based Ant Group.
“This investment from Bow Wave is a validation of both what we have accomplished as well as the potential of GCash in unlocking digital services in the Philippines,” said Martha Sazon, president and CEO of Mynt. “The pandemic has acted as a catalyst in highlighting the importance of digital finance in society today.”
During the pandemic, “GCash has been helping Filipinos get through their daily lives by providing them with convenient, safe and secure digital payment options,” the release said. GCash has 33 million customers in the Philippines.
The mobile wallet provides users with “digital financial tools and services” that even include opening deposit accounts, investing in money market funds and buying insurance products.
Mynt “made significant gains in 2020 that further cemented our status as the leading finance app in the country,” said Ernest L. Cu, the company’s board chairman. He added that the company’s leaders “are further encouraged by the fact that Mynt’s momentum has continued, even as the country moved out of quarantine restrictions.”
Management is “confident in Mynt’s future prospects as a unicorn in the Philippines,” Cu said in the release. A unicorn is a privately held startup worth over $1 billion.
Sazon said the company is looking toward its “vision of finance for all, enabling democratized access to payment and financial services to every Filipino.”
GCash is one of the mobile wallet brands that Remitly added to its network last year. The Seattle-based company sells financial services products aimed at making it easier for immigrants to send money electronically to their home countries.
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