Wazzup Pilipinas!?
Touted as the Philippines’ first unicorn after securing millions in a funding round, Mynt has cemented itself as one of the country’s leading fintech companies.
What is Mynt?
According to its official website, Mynt is a fintech startup partnership between Globe Telecom, the Ayala Corporation and Ant Financial. Its five main services are payments, remittance, loans, business solutions and platforms. Upon its introduction, Mynt affirmed its intention to aggressively and strategically grow the micro-lending business in the Philippines, whilst also launching additional products. To provide context on the financial services industry in the Philippines in 2018, it was reported that only approximately 3% of the population had a credit card, while only 34.5% had a bank account. This was the case from a population of approximately 100 million. Therefore, it is evident that when Mynt came onto the scene, there was a gap that it could fill with minimal competition, as well as financial services that needed to be provided to citizens.
Fintech innovations and funding
Understanding the direction in which the world is moving, given the role and impact of technology in all aspects of our lives, the growing investor interest in fintech companies is expected.
Moreover, people all around the word prioritised fintech and digital solutions in 2020, mostly due to the unprecedented global conditions. This is also partially why forex trading is said to be on the rise, as people are looking for convenience and alternatives to conduct financial transactions on their smart devices.
When it comes to forex trading, however, the good thing is that one need not be a finance guru in order to succeed, nor does one need buckets of money to get started. Knowing which currencies to trade to improve your chances of succeeding on the markets is important. Compared to USD and JPY trading, which are two of the most stable currencies and form part of the so-called gopher currency pair, other currencies may not necessarily be as lucrative; nonetheless, there are many that are equally promising on the forex market.
Whenn it comes to Mynt and its offering, it appears to have tapped into the market at the right time and it seems to have proved that it has more to offer in fintech. The company has been hailed as the Philippines’ first unicorn after securing $300 million in its recent funding round from various investors, such as US-based Warburg Pincus and Insight Partners.
Speaking on the success of the recent funding round and its new investors, Martha Sazon, President and CEO of Mynt, was quoted as saying, "We have been able to continuously expand by introducing game-changing innovations while improving our profitability profile." Sazon added, "We are excited about our new partnership with Warburg, Insight, Itai Tsiddon and Amplo, as they each bring strategic value to our team in the pursuit of our vision towards finance for all."
The recent funding round is said to have boosted Mynt’s valuation to $2 billion, and is a significant indication of the growth of and demand for financial services and digital banking in the Philippines. Warburg Pincus’ Saurabh Agarwal highlighted Mynt’s dominance and market share in the country as one of the main reasons for the investment, in addition to its innovative technology and superior products.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
