Creador backs Philippines digital bank

UnoAsia had already raised USD 33.5m in pre-seed and seed funding, of which USD 21m came from Creador. The private equity firm expects to put in more capital, making it UnoAsia’s largest investor. Other investors include Manish Bhai and Kalidas Ghose, the founders of UnoAsia, Akash Bhanshali of Payash Securities and Samir Arora of Helios Capital.

Bhai previously spent nearly 25 years with Citi, while Ghose founded Vietnam-based consumer finance business FE Credit. Last year, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group acquired a 49% stake in FE Credit at a valuation of USD 2.8bn. Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VP Bank) continues to own 50%.

UnoAsia, which is headquartered in Singapore, plans to set up digital banking entities across key markets in South and Southeast Asia over the next five years. The immediate priority is the Philippines, where Uno Digital Bank has been licensed under the country’s digital banking license framework. The first products are set to be issued later this year.

Tonik, Overseas Filipino Bank, and UnionBank Corporation were the first to receive licenses in 2020. They were joined by Uno Digital Bank, GoTyme, and Maya Bank last year.

Mizuho Bank led a USD 131m Series B for Tonik in February with support from Sequoia Capital India and Prosus Ventures. Other investors include Point72 Ventures, iGlobe Partners, Alpha JWC Ventures, Insignia Venture Partners, Sixteenth Street Capital, Citius, Blauwpark Partners, and Nuri Group.

Maya Bank is controlled by Voyager Innovations, a financial technology company established by local telecom provider PLDT. Earlier this year, Voyager closed a USD 210m round at a valuation of USD 1.4bn. SIG Venture Capital, EDBI, First Pacific, KKR, Tencent Holdings, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are among its backers.

“The pre-Series A round led by Creador reflects continued investor confidence in our digital bank. The additional capital will help us to further invest to support our growth, as well as see us through the commercial launch of Uno Digital Bank, which is now a live operating bank under closed-loop ‘beta,’” Bhai said in a statement.

Omar Mahmoud, a managing director at Creador, added that digital banks represent an opportunity to serve the 45m people in the Philippines - nearly two-thirds of the adult population - who are underbanked.

“Our investment in UnoAsia will allow us to promote financial inclusion in a country where only 10% are borrowing from the organised sector, which in turn would make a positive impact on millions of Filipinos and the broader community,” he said.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Early-stage
• Financials
• Technology
• Philippines
• Creador