By Alithea De Jesus
There is no denying that the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the lives of everyone we know. It has caused anxiety as health and safety concerns coupled with economic and income uncertainties weighed down everyone and setting back a broad spectrum of businesses.
Needless to say, the year 2020 is indeed backbreaking and as we deal with our daily grind, the pandemic still gives uncertainties to many businesses and those who have some savings would opt to be judicious on how and where they will invest their money.
For Jakarta-based financial technology and payments startup Xendit, taking a leap in the dark in the Philippine market was a bold move, given the fact the astute business leaders would rather wait and see in the midst of uncertainty.
But as the cliché goes, “fortune favors the bold”. True enough, Xendit has raised $150 million in a Series C funding round, elevating its valuation to about $1 billion. Thus, becoming one of the fast-growing payments infrastructure startups that launched in the Philippines and now one of Southeast Asia’s unicorns. The round was led by Tiger Global Management with participation from existing investors Accel, Amasia, and Justin Kan’s Goat Capital.
Bankroll and ramp up digital infrastructure in the Philippines
With the newly secured investment, Xendit executives revealed that they will continue innovating its product suite and make its digital payments infrastructure available to more entrepreneurs in the Philippines and other key markets. By specializing in building hyper-localized products for archipelago nations and catering to a broad spectrum of customer needs, Xendit has been able to build first-in-market products, provide unparalleled customer service, and quickly adapt to a dynamic region.
“We’re seeing an incredible shift to digital-first. Whether the business is a small Instagram shop or Southeast Asia’s largest enterprises, it’s now clear that businesses need to have a digital presence,” said Moses Lo, co-founder and CEO, Xendit. “Xendit’s digital payments infrastructure enables the region’s new class of entrepreneurs to start and scale their payments faster and supercharges larger companies with modern, world-class financial services. What AWS has done for computing, Xendit is doing for payments.”
Xendit’s commitment to strengthen its local Philippines operations is part of its mission to build digital infrastructure in the country and promote financial inclusivity. The last year has seen a more than 200% year-over-year increase in total payments volume across the Philippines and Indonesia, maintaining a 25% month-over-month growth rate in the Philippines and continuing a track record of more than 10 percent month-over-month growth since inception.
“Xendit’s new round of fundraising and status as a unicorn will strengthen our mission to provide reliable and secure financial infrastructure to hundreds of thousands of growing businesses across the Philippines. Our dream is to accelerate the growth of the Philippine digital economy by continuing to build first-to-market solutions for enterprises and SMEs alike, while introducing the global VC community to the growing local startup ecosystem.” said Yang Yang Zhang, CEO and Managing Director of Xendit Philippines.
Trusted and reliable fintech partner of Filipinos
Xendit Philippines has played an integral part in the company’s growth and journey toward its unicorn status. Despite being a relative newcomer to the local payments space, Xendit has catapulted to becoming one of the biggest payment gateways in the country.
Over the past year, Xendit Philippines has paved the way in building first to market solutions that differentiates it from other companies in the scene. It was the first payment gateway to launch a direct debit and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) solution as well as integrate to the top three e-wallets: GCash, Grabpay and Paymaya. Xendit is providing a solution to the Philippines’s specific reliability and infrastructure hurdles by expanding access to technologies that create an equal playing field, enabling businesses and people in the region to scale and thrive.
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In the Philippines, about 67% of the population are internet users in which 42% utilize banking and financial services apps for their digital transaction needs. This could be attributed to the e-commerce growth in the country with more customers shifting their purchases online for safety and convenience amid the pandemic. Overall for 2021, 38.88 million Filipinos are now making digitally-enabled payment transactions.
To build on this momentum, Xendit will be introducing three key initiatives that will further boost its commitment to empowering more Filipino businesses and customers, bridging digital solutions where needed, and delivering growth opportunities. By closely working with its partners and continuously understanding the needs of the market, Xendit designed and created these innovative programs to ensure better service for every Filipino. This includes:
- Auto Debit and Recurring Payments: a payments solution for merchants that supports subscriptions and account linking for future payments through Xendit’s Direct Debit and eWallet products
- Level Up Grant: a program for SMEs and individual business owners where they can get 2 months fee waiver across all payment channels, access to exclusive workshops, and be connected to Xendit’s list of partners that could support their businesses.
- Accelerator Program: a comprehensive initiative aimed at Filipino Start-ups (1) achieving regionalization through hyper-localization; (2) Providing opportunities for fee waivers and (3) bridging the gap between Filipino SMEs and international investors.
“Xendit’s digital payments infrastructure, built specifically for Southeast Asia, is quickly becoming the standard for financial operations in the region,” said Alex Cook, Partner, Tiger Global Management. “By providing a reliable and secure payment gateway, Xendit has created an on-ramp to the digital economy for businesses across the region. We are excited to partner with Xendit as they continue to scale.”
Since 2015, Xendit has raised a total of $238 million, including a $64M Series B led by Accel announced this March. Xendit is also one of the top Southeast Asian companies on the YC Top 100 list.
“Xendit is at the forefront of digital transformation in Southeast Asia, providing businesses of all sizes with much needed and essential digital payments infrastructure,” said Ryan Sweeney, partner at Accel. “With this fresh round of funding and a milestone valuation, Xendit has earned the credibility needed for long-term success and is inspiring the next generation of unicorns in Southeast Asia. We believe Xendit will thrive in the region.”
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