January, February & March 2021
Filipino startup news
The Q1 2021 round-up of Filipino tech news gathers the country’s tech, startup and VC funding news headlines across 3 months – January, February and March of 2021.
The quarter’s startup news headlines captured below outline developments in The Philippines’ tech and startup scenes, covering items as diverse as contactless payments on public transport, livestreaming apps, artificial intelligence in shipping documentation, tiny house construction and beyond.
Items listed are headlines, hyperlinked and bullet-pointed, without accompanying text or distractions, providing a one-page overview of Filipino startup news in Q1 2021 alongside single-click access to each online article, in full, behind the headlines.
January 2021 | February 2021 | March 2021
Filipino startup news: March 2021
- Philippines: Uno digital-only bank partners Xebia consultancy to add AI-based features, including facial recognition, voice ID, and tailored credit
- Philippines: StartUp Village and Junior Chamber International Philippines partner for Startup Academy skills development initiative, part of Forty Under 40 program
- Philippines: A brief intro to the tech startups taking part in the Shell LiveWIRE acceleration program
- Philippines: Citi Foundation Microenterprise Development Center Creativity and Innovation Hub launched by Citi and Bayan Academy, focusing on the country’s MSMEs
- Philippines: A podcast interview intro to PayMongo, helping Filipino businesses move into e-commerce activities
- Philippines’ Land Bank partners O-City to explore automated fare collection, contactless payment and digital ticketing in Metro Manila
- Philippines: NextPay e-payments firm gains $125K pre-seed funding from Y Combinator
- Philippines: An intro to Kumu, livestreaming app boasting 7M registered users, 2M monthly active users, and 40K livestreams daily
- Philippines: Plug and Play APAC corporate innovation platform to run inaugural Tech Showcase in Manila under Enterprise Singapore Global Innovation Alliance Manila program
- ICYMI: Tonik digital-only bank launches first neobank in the Philippines, offering app-based deposit, payment and card products
- Philippines: An overview of the country’s startup ecosystem, from StartupBlink
- Filipino startup MoveUp platform for online onboarding and training of teams takes win at ASEAN Startup Awards competition
- Philippines: Seminar series from Stanford University – Startup Acceleration and Entrepreneurship in the Philippines
- Philippines: KwikInsure launches platform for insurance in the Philippines, offering over 100 life and nonlife insurance products
- Women In Tech: An intro to 4 female entrepreneurs and leaders from The Philippines
Filipino Startup news: February 2021
- Philippines: Eskwelabs selected for Singapore-based Spaze Ventures’s Eduspaze Accelerator with focus on online education in data skills
- Philippines: A snapshot round-up of the past month’s tech, startup and funding news headlines from the Philippines
- Philippines: IdeaSpace opens 2021 backing 3 startups – Agro-Digital PH, Humble sustainability and circular living startup, and Workbean workplace tech startup
- Philippines: An intro to Expedock, using AI to speed processing of shipping documents to beat inefficiencies in freight forwarding
- ICYMI: Philippines’ Converge ICT Solutions fibre broadband provider in talks with Elon Musk’s SpaceX on a possible broadband satellite venture
- Philippines: A brief overview of the recent UNDP Social Innovation Lab, and the 5 winning teams going forward to the Youth CoLab Springboard Programme incubator
- 7-Eleven Philippines enables ‘buy now pay later’ with Plentina fintech, launching online grocery service backed with loan approvals in minutes
- Philippines: QBO Innovation Hub partnered by Draper Startup House Ventures to support Filipino startup community, domestically and internationally
- Philippines: The Final Pitch, business-focused reality TV show, opens applications for Season 6 – enter online with a 1-minute pitch video
- Singapore’s Transcelestial Technologies gains $2M investment to boost internet service in the Philippines and provide telcos with affordable options for 5G
- Philippines: Kapatid Mentor Me Online Batch 3 set for Central Visayas region later in 2021, backed by gov’t Department of Trade and Industry and others
- Philippines: Applications for 9th edition of Ideaspace accelerator program close February 28th, seeking early-stage tech startup founders solving emerging market issues
- Philippines: An intro to Vector, angel fund aiming to mentor and empower Filipino entrepreneurs by connecting them to thought leaders around the world
- Indonesia’s Xendit partners Philippines’ BillEase for PayLater option allowing merchants to offer card-free instalments to cardless and unbanked shoppers
- The 6 startups from Asia on Y Combinator’s Winter 2021 batch, from India, Singapore and The Philippines
Filipino startup news: January 2021
- A brief interview intro to Foxmont Capital Partners, multi-focus venture capital fund focused on Filipino entrepreneurs
- ICYMI: Philippine Rice Research Institute gains test approval for the country’s first high temperature-tolerant rice varieties, in part a response to climate change effects
- SquidPay now able to operate an e-wallet service after gaining Electronic Money Issuer license from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
- An intro to the 13 initiatives that graduated from the Facebook Community Accelerator Asia Pacific Programme in December
- Recent Filipino startup and tech news headlines – a 2 page round-up, linked to each online article and QR coded for reading from print later
- FAB LABs Philippines launched by Department of Trade and Industry and USAid, aiming to boost interest in engineering, science and tech
- An intro to Cubo Modular, manufacturing Philippines-made ‘tiny houses’ made IKEA-style from local, sustainable engineered bamboo
- Plastic Bank recycling system partners PayMaya digital financial services firm to boost sustainable communities with cashless rewards technology
- Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry partners Huawei for PCCI Innovation Center to align local skills to the demand of the technology job market
- A brief intro to Avion School, online school helping users gain software engineering skills in 12 weeks, and running a ‘pay when you’re hired’ program
- Podcast Network Asia agency raises $750K seed funding, with expansion plans for Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand
- A brief intro to 5 AI-driven tech startups, working in logistics, HR and more
- Craftcha upcycling startup takes win in J&T Express Philippines’ Certified Lokalista campaign, converting discarded materials into everyday items
- A brief look at the recently-launched SEAF Women’s Economic Empowerment Fund, focusing investments primarily on Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines
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