Voyager Innovations Inc. has raised $167 million or roughly P8.11 billion in fresh capital from its existing investors and a new one, which it will use to bankroll its financial inclusion initiatives for the Philippines.
Existing investors that participated in the capital raise are telco titan PLDT Inc., global investment firm KKR, and Chinese tech giant Tencent.
IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund, a fund managed by the IFC Asset Management Company (IFC AMC), participated as a new investor. The International Finance Corp. (IFC) is an existing investor in Voyager.
This investment includes $121 million in fresh funding and $46 million from previously committed funds.
Orlando B. Vea, the founder of Voyager, said the newly strengthened war chest will allow the group to further grow its digital payments arm PayMaya Philippines Inc.
“We have seen a quantum leap for digital payments adoption in the Philippines over the past year, and PayMaya has served as the nexus connecting consumers and enterprises with enriching digital finance experiences. This investment supports the unique value we bring and gives us a natural head start with the target market for the digital banking service,” he said.
This new investment is a boost to PayMaya’s bid to venture into digital banking, a license of which has been sought from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as of writing time.
Once granted a digital bank license by the BSP, the new entity will provide mobile-first, low-cost, round-the-clock, frictionless, branchless, ubiquitous, paperless, secure, and smart neo-banking services on the back of PayMaya’s proven technology platforms.
“As we did with payments and remittances, we will enable the large masses of Filipinos to leapfrog into a new stage of financial inclusion through integrated digital financial services. Our goal is to continue making lives better for millions of underserved people and small businesses, with cutting edge solutions that are affordable and relevant,” Shailesh Baidwan, Voyager and PayMaya President, said.
PayMaya, together with remittance platform Smart Padala, has a total user base of 38 million, representing more than half of the adult population in the Philippines. It offers financial services such as mobile wallet, bills payment, insurance, and lending, among others.