US fintech raises $5m for Philippines, Southeast Asia push
Quona Capital has led a $5 million Series A round of funding for US-based financial technology start-up Coins. It will support an expansion in Southeast Asia with an emphasis on the Philippines.
Quona is investing via its Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund (AFIF) alongside Innovation Endeavors, Pantera Capital, Digital Currency Group, Wavemaker Labs, Global Brain, BeeNext and Rebright Partners. Filipino backers include Kickstart Ventures and Ideaspace Foundation, the investment arms of Globe Telecom and Smart Communications, respectively.
The capital will be used to expand access to basic financial services including remittances, bill payments and mobile airtime to unbanked people. The company will leverage a branchless blockchain-based platform to enable cost reductions and improved service quality. Coins claims to have partnered with a number of banks, financial institutions and last-mile retail outlets, spanning a network of 22,000 cash disbursement and collection locations in the Philippines alone.
"In the Philippines, more people have a Facebook account than a bank account," Ron Hose, Coins' CEO said in a statement. "We'd like to make access to financial services as easy and approachable as getting a Facebook account."
Founded in Silicon Valley in 2014, Coins offers services to some 63,000 merchants in the Philippines and Thailand. The company has signed up more 500,000 users, touting savings of up to 80% versus Western Union on customer fees related to cross-border payments and remittances.
AFIF is considered the first global fintech fund for the underserved. It invests in companies that promote financial inclusion for the estimated two billion people lacking access to savings accounts, checking, insurance, credit and other basic financial services. More than 60% of Southeast Asia's population of 600 million remains unbanked, and less than 5% have a credit card. At the same time, mobile internet penetration is rapidly increasing and bringing millions of people online every month.
Quona was incubated as an impact investment manager within emerging markets microfinance group Accion International. Accion is the sponsor and anchor investor of AFIF.
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