China's Gobi makes its first two Philippines investments

Gobi invested alongside recently established local VC Core Capital via the Gobi-Core Philippine Fund, which was launched last year with a corpus of $10 million. Both Maria Health and Edukasyon will use the fresh capital for product expansion.

Maria Health was founded in 2016 with a view to improving Filipinos' access to health insurance through a one-stop digital platform. The company says that only 5% of its target market of 100 million people has access to a health plan.

Edukasyon was founded in 2013 as a marketplace for accessing higher education and helping students make more informed employment decisions. It claims to help 10 million student users a year, and has more than 100,000 registered users and 350 partner colleges.

"With a population of 120 million, the Philippines is the second largest country in ASEAN, but has been overlooked by venture capitalists," Thomas Tsao, founding partner of Gobi, said in a statement. "We think that's about to change, and we're thrilled that we can get in on the ground floor of the digital transformation that is sweeping across the Philippines."

The Philippines is expected to see accelerated start-up activity as investors and entrepreneurs explore opportunities related to the country's young consumer market, which is transitioning into an older demographic that makes more big-ticket purchases. Ecosystem development has been impeded, however, by cultural barriers around innovation and risk-taking.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Healthcare
• Consumer
• Early-stage
• Philippines
• Education
• TMT
• Financial Services
• Gobi Partners
• seed