Mynt, GCash's parent firm, now valued at $2-B after fundraising

MANILA, Philippines — Globe Fintech Innovations Inc (Mynt), the company behind the wildly-popular e-wallet app GCash, said Tuesday it received $300 million in fresh capital from its investors, making it the Philippines’ most valuable fintech firm to date.

Much of the hefty cash came from global investment firm Warburg Pincus, venture capital firm Insight Partners and Bow Wave Capital, one of Mynt’s existing investors. The new funding pushed up Mynt’s valuation to over $2 billion, cementing the company’s “double unicorn” status.

Mynt lists Globe Telecom, Ayala Corp., Bow Wave, and Ant Financial, the fintech unit of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, as its major stockholders. According to the company, Globe and Ayala also took part in the latest fundraising activity, which also includes participation from new investors Itai Tsiddon and Amplo Ventures.

“We are confident of furthering Mynt’s market leadership,” Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu, who also sits as chairman of Mynt, said in a statement.

Mynt’s GCash cornered a user base of over 48 million around the country, as many Filipinos turn to digital platforms for their cashless transactions amid a lingering pandemic that has stoked contagion fears. Before the health crisis struck in 2019, GCash had just over 20 million users.

GCash also reported that daily transactions hit a peak of 12 million since the pandemic hit home. The hugely popular e-wallet app is projected to reach P3 trillion in gross transaction value in 2021, which its parent company said would be thrice last year’s record. 

The successful fundraising activity comes at a time of intense rivalry between traditional banks and digital startups like Mynt, Paymaya and Grab. Just recently, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas spiced up the competition in the local fintech space after giving digital banking licenses to six players.

That said, the fresh capital would boost Mynt’s financial strength amid increasing market competition. Currently, Mynt offers a full array of financial services spanning credit, savings, insurance, loans and investments — the core businesses of traditional banks.

“This is further proof that our growth and achievements have not gone unnoticed,” Mynt President and CEO Martha Sazon said.