Tech in The Philippines
April, May & June 2021
Tech news headlines from The Philippines in Q2 2021
Startup News Asia’s technology news summary for The Philippines covers the second quarter of 2021, collecting tech and startup-related headlines from April, May and June of the year on subjects including: buy-now-pay-later services in the country; a national QR code standard for digital payments; NFT gaming and the growing play-to-earn economy; the recent PH Startup Innovation Awards; and more.
Headlines here are each linked to the Filipino tech news articles behind them – linked in full, online, no advertising, free to read.
Click the jump links to read the Filipino technology news round-ups for April 2021, May 2021 or June 2021, or scan the headlines for subjects that are of the most interest to you.
April 2021 | May 2021 | June 2021
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The Philippines’ tech news: June 2021
- Philippines: Shell LiveWIRE Acceleration program applications close June 4th, seeking social enterprises that are helping the development of local economies
- Philippines: Prosperna eCommerce startup gains $450K seed funding as a result of appearance on The Final Pitch reality TV show, with online store builder for SMEs
- Alibaba Cloud to build data center to support digital transformation and expand footprint in Asia, building on 2019 entry to the country
- Philippines: 10 financial literacy projects gain grants and support from PhilDev Foundation and Cebuana Lhuillier Foundation, focusing on the underserved
- Uno digital bank gains license from country’s central bank, enabling AI-run features including facial recognition and voice ID
- Philippines: Netbank launches following regulatory approval, providing banking-as-a-service operations for companies entering or transitioning to digital financial services
- P43 million in research and development grants issued to 14 startup firms working in tech around fisheries, logistics, procurement, coding and more
- Philippines: Yield Guild Games raises $4M Series A with focus on play-to-earn games using NFTs
- Video: Play-To-Earn, NFT Gaming in the Philippines – how a community earns real-world money by playing token-rewards games like Axie Infinity
- A brief look at the winners from the recent PH Startup Incubator Awards
- Philippines: KwikInsure introduces insurance products for overseas Filipino workers via online marketplace, delivered in partnership with Starr Insurance Philippines
- GrowSari generates $30M in funding to date with B2B platform for small stores, with backers including China’s Tencent and the International Finance Corporation
- Japan’s Marubeni trading house to take stake in e-money platform JV for seafarers between NYK Line shipping firm and Filipino TDG conglomerate
- Philippines: An intro to FiveDOL Upcycling, using fly larvae to combat food waste first by breaking waste down into compost, and then as protein-rich livestock feed
- Voyager Innovations raises $167M, aiming to grow PayMaya fintech’s mobile wallet, payments processing and digital remittance businesses
Filipino startup news: May 2021
- An intro to Buko Ventures angel investment fund, focused on pre-launch and pre-revenue startups
- A quick overview of the winners from the recent PH Startup Incubator Awards
- Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas launches QR Ph, the Philippines’ national QR code standard for digital payments, with PayMaya e-wallet the country’s first to adopt
- Download: Philippines – Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap 2020-2023 (pdf)
- Gov’t to establish National Center for AI Research, in support of recently-unveiled AI Roadmap
- Download: The Philippines E-Government Masterplan 2022 (pdf)
- An intro to PearlPay, providing end-to-end digital and banking services with a focus on the marginalized and underserved population
- Tech Week 2021 runs next week, May 17-22, around the theme of ‘Building Skills, Better Careers with Tech Communities’
- Rizal Commercial Banking Corp partners PayMongo digital payments firm to boost reach of financial products and services
- An intro to 2 of the 9 firms on the first Shell LiveWIRE Acceleration Program, working on sustainable paper products and biodegradable materials
- Community in rural Nueva Ecija comes together to earn an income in NFTs by playing Sky Mavis’ Axie Infinity, generating blockchain-based crypto rewards
- The latest edition of Startup Digest Philippines, in case you missed it
- Great Deals e-commerce firm raises $30M, with sights in part on construction of automated warehouse capable of handling a million transactions each day
- QBO Innovation Hub and US Embassy conclude InQbation incubation program, selecting gym-focused Team Fitscocery SaaS as highlight participant
- An intro to the Startup Pinay initiative from QBO, boosting exposure, networking and capacity for women-led firms
- Bayad bills payment firm gains central bank Electronic Money Issuer license, allowing users to soon be able to pay over 1000 different bills by app
- Download: The launch overview presentation for the eCommerce Philippine 2022 Roadmap (pdf)
- A video discussion of the startup scene in The Philippines
- A brief intro to Exora Source, artificial-intelligence-powered system assessing energy usage using historical and real-time data to bring user costs down
- A look at the 1Export Caravan platform, helping overseas Filipinos create and grow a reselling business, and boosting overseas access for domestic businesses
Filipino startups: April 2021
- Philippines: Nanotronics takes grand prize in Shell LiveWIRE program with biodegradable nano-material aiming to reduce reliance on plastics
- Philippines: Plentina ‘buy now, pay later’ startup raises $2.2M with instalment loans that can be used and repaid using e-wallets
- Philippines: An overview of Tonik, digital-only neobank in the 3-largest economy in SE Asia where 71% of the 72M adult population are unbanked
- Philippines: A look at GInvest from GCash, digital investment platform allowing Filipinos to explore investing, direct from their mobile phone
- Philippines: More on the Level Up program launched by Indonesia’s Xendit, accelerator focused on boosting digital payments for SMEs
- Philippines: An intro to Peddlr, smart Point Of Sales app aiming to assist MSMEs by recording sales, logging expenses and giving better understanding of business performance
- Philippines: Kraver’s Canteen cloud-kitchen firm gains $1.5M seed funding, aiming to build out 100 kitchens in the country’s major cities
- Indonesia’s Xendit fintech to waive P3.5M per business in transaction fees in the Philippines as part of new Level Up marketing campaign
- Philippines: Endeavour entrepreneurship-focused organisation is seeking an Associate to focus on Entrepreneur Selection and Growth
- Philippines: An intro to the 8 Filipinos selected for the Forbes ’30 Under 30 Asia 2021′ list
- Philippine Tech Week 2021 set for May 17-22, comprising in-person events, webinars and online conferences
- Philippines: Startup Summit 2021 conference takes place April 16-18, organised by Ateneo Building Young Tech Entrepreneurs organization
- Philippines: Dep’t of Science and Tech and QBO innovation hub unveil their selection of top-performing Technology Business Incubators
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