Manilla, Philippines, April 13, 2022—The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and two investment funds managed by IFC’s equity mobilization division (AMC), the IFC Emerging Asia Fund (“Emerging Asia Fund”) and the IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund (“FIG Fund”), are investing $18.5 million in Voyager Innovations, a financial-technology company that promotes financial inclusion by expanding the use of digital financial services in the Philippines.
Jean Marc Arbogast, IFC Country Manager for the Philippines, said: “We are very pleased to continue supporting Voyager, which provides technology-driven solutions and innovative business models that will create new markets for accessible and affordable financial products and services that can improve the lives of more Filipinos. In particular, our investment this time will enable Voyager to make its foray into digital banking, to reach currently financially excluded and underserved populations with a range of formal, affordable financial services suited to their needs. The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has only reinforced the need for increased digital financial inclusion.”
The investment will enable Voyager to grow its platform and offer integrated, end-to-end digital financial services to consumers, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and large enterprises. Voyager operates PayMaya, the only fintech in the Philippines serving all segments of consumers and enterprises with a widely used consumer e-wallet app, the leading enterprise payment processing business, and the most extensive on-ground agent network, Smart Padala.
Moreover, Voyager recently launched Maya Bank, a new, fully digital bank in the Philippines. Its digital banking services will be integrated and offered at the back of PayMaya’s platform and ecosystem.
Orlando B. Vea, Voyager and PayMaya CEO-Founder, said: “Our strong record of execution and innovation is a testament to our world-class team’s hard work and talent. With this milestone, we are excited to leap forward and bring the best of PayMaya and Maya Bank to help unlock the digital economy for the underserved and unbanked Filipinos.”
The investment by IFC, Emerging Asia and FIG Funds, consists of up to $18.5 million in preferred shares. It is part of a $210.0 million capital raising that makes Voyager the second unicorn in the Philippines.
Shailesh Baidwan, Voyager and PayMaya President, said: “The strong endorsement from our new shareholders and participation of our existing investors in this fundraising validates the Company’s ability to expand into neobanking and add new cutting-edge financial products and services. We are excited to bring more game-changing innovations to millions of consumers and MSMEs with our integrated ecosystem as we address the pent-up demand for financial services.”
The Philippines is the fastest-growing market in Southeast Asia, with digital adoption of services reaching tipping points during the pandemic, driven by the demands of a young, digital-savvy population. Despite this accelerated trajectory, the Philippines remain a vastly underserved market with solid growth opportunities. Half of the adult population remains unbanked[1]. About 47% of Filipino adults do not have savings, and of those with savings, one in two save via informal means. Only 1 in 3 adults have loans, of which a mere 3% are availing from banks[2]. The enormous digital financial services opportunity extends to MSMEs. These businesses account for 99.5% of the total establishments and employ 62.8% of the entire labor force in the country. However, access to credit and financial services for MSMEs remain a challenge, with only 24% availing of loans or having lines of credit from formal financial institutions[3].
PayMaya and Maya Bank seek to address the challenge of spurring deeper adoption in a country with limited merchant acceptance and banking presence by providing end-to-end services from an integrated ecosystem.
IFC is a prominent investor in financial services and fintech in emerging markets and has a long history of promoting new technologies that increase the reach and lower the cost of access to financial services.
About VOYAGER INNOVATIONS, PAYMAYA PHILIPPINES, and MAYA BANK
Voyager Innovations, Inc. is the leading technology company in the Philippines, focused on customer-centric emerging market platforms for digital and financial inclusion.
PayMaya Philippines (PayMaya), the fintech arm of Voyager, is the only end-to-end digital payments ecosystem enabler in the Philippines, with platforms and services that cut across consumers, merchants, communities, and government. As of end-December 2021, PayMaya provides more than 44 million Filipinos access to financial services through its consumer platforms. Its Smart Padala by PayMaya network of over 63,000 partner agent touchpoints serves as last-mile digital financial hubs in communities, providing the unbanked and underserved access to digital services. Through its enterprise business, PayMaya is the largest digital payments processor for key industries in the country, including “every day” merchants such as the largest retail, food, gas, and eCommerce merchants, as well as government agencies and units. To know more about PayMaya’s products and services, visit www.PayMaya.com or follow @PayMayaOfficial on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Maya Bank, Inc. (Maya Bank) powers the digital banking experience of consumers and enterprises across PayMaya’s ecosystem. As a pioneering neobank, it is transforming how money works for Filipino consumers and MSMEs through innovative and relevant financial services, including savings, deposits, and credit. With Voyager’s fintech PayMaya Philippines, it is creating the Philippines’ only end-to-end digital financial services platform. Maya Bank is a digital bank supervised by the Bangko ng Pilipinas (BSP). For more information, visit mayabank.ph.
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About IFC
IFC—a member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In the fiscal year 2020, we invested $22 billion in private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.
About IFC Asset Management Company
IFC Asset Management Company (AMC), a division of IFC, mobilizes and manages capital to invest in businesses in developing and frontier markets. Created in 2009, AMC provides leading institutional investors with unique access to IFC’s emerging markets investment pipeline and investment expertise, while providing positive development impact in the countries in which it invests. Investors in AMC managed funds include sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and development-finance institutions. It has raised over$10 billion across 13 investment funds covering equity, debt, and fund-of-funds products. For more information, visit www.ifcamc.org
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