PLDT unit Voyager gets $215-M funding

China’s Tencent Holdings, the developer of WeChat, and global fund manager KKR closed a $175-million investment in PLDT Inc.’s Voyager Innovations on Wednesday.

The deal, whose funds would mainly go toward expanding Voyager’s platforms, including the PayMaya mobile wallet, marked the largest investment in a local technology company to date.

“Voyager can now step up its efforts to make its innovative financial and internet platforms more accessible to more Filipinos in more parts of the country,” said PLDT chair and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan.

PLDT is also expecting to seal another $40 million in investment from the World Bank’s International Finance Corp. (IFC) and IFC Emerging Asia Fund. Pangilinan said this transaction would close by Dec. 10 this year.

This will bring Voyager’s total fundraising to $215 million.

Pangilinan told reporters that with the entry of Tencent, KKR and IFC, PLDT’s stake in Voyager would fall to around 48 percent. Annabelle Chua, PLDT chief financial officer, said PLDT itself would gain about $50 million from the investment owing to advances it made earlier this year.

The remainder would be used by Voyager for business expansion in the Philippines.

“We believe with investors like KKR and Tencent leading the way, the Philippines’ profile as a destination for tech investment is on the rise,” said Orlando B. Vea, president and CEO of Voyager Innovations.

Apart from PayMaya, Voyager’s other platforms include Smart Padala, a mobile-based remittance network, online lending facility Lendr and freenet, a rewards app that allows users to access certain internet sites without data charges.

Under the deal terms, first announced on Oct. 4, Voyager will issue new shares to Tencent and KKR. This means the bulk of the funds will go toward the expansion of Voyager’s platforms.

Both Tencent and KKR will take a minority stake in Voyager, with PLDT still majority owner. With the entry of other investors such as IFC, PLDT expects its stake to go below 50 percent, but will still remain the single-biggest shareholder in Voyager.

The Philippines, with its large and relatively young population—a significant portion of which does not have access to traditional banking—is fertile ground for global fintech giants seeking growth outside their home markets.