12 April was a big day in the Philippines’ tech world.

It was when fintech Voyager Innovations, the owner of payments and financial services app PayMaya, announced it had raised US$210 million at a valuation of US$1.4 billion. Voyager, thereby, became only the second unicorn in the country.

The Philippines’ other unicorn is Voyager’s rival Mynt, which operates the e-wallet GCash. It got there in November last year, when it raised US$300 million at a valuation of over US$2 billion.

Five months ago, the Philippines didn’t have a single billion-dollar company. Now, it has two.

AUTHOR

Isabel Martinez

Isa is based in Manila. She covers Southeast Asia's and the Philippines' media, employment and work, policy and investments, and other sectors reshaping consumer life.

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