US-Philippines blockchain player gets $16m Series B
A group of Asian and North American venture investors have backed a $16 million Series B round for Abra, a US financial technology company test marketing blockchain-based services in the Philippines.
HCM International, a China-based VC arm of Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology, as well as Silver8 Capital and Ignia came in as new investors. Existing backers including Hong Kong-based Arbor Ventures, Singapore’s Jungle Ventures, American Express Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, and RRE Ventures also participated.
It brings Abra’s total funding to more than $35 million. The company raised a $12 million Series A in 2015 from a group including Arbor, RRE, Jungle, Lerer, and American Express. That round also included participation by Australia’s Carthona Capital and Ratan Tata, chairman of India’s Tata Group, as well as US-based VCs Blockchain Capital, Digital Currency Group, Future Perfect Ventures, Pantera Capital, and First Round Capital.
“We believe that Abra represents the future of digital payments and banking,” Jack Lee, founding managing partner at HCM, said in a statement. “Abra’s vision for a decentralized network of people, merchants and consumer devices all connected via internet-based open blockchain technology can usher in a new era of financial inclusion and access to capital for billions of consumers.”
Founded in 2014, Abra offers a smart phone-operated digital wallet that allows users to buy, sell, store or send both fiat currencies and bitcoin. Deposit, withdrawal and transfer services are available globally, but bank account support is currently accessible only in the US and Philippines.
Investment in blockchain-related fintech in the Philippines remains a nascent phenomenon but is projected to increase as the country’s large remittance market expands and the young domestic consumer market demands additional financial services. Other early movers in this space include Coins, a blockchain-enabled payments company, which received a $5 million round earlier this year to consolidate its presence across the Philippines and Thailand.
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