Globe prepares next bets after GCash success

With a suite of ideas and innovations still up its sleeve, Globe Telecom said it was ready to replicate the success of GCash, its mobile wallet business that has so far bagged a $2-billion valuation from investors.

“We do think that telco continues to be a very viable platform and a good springboard for new businesses to develop much like what we’ve done with Mynt,” Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said. Mynt is the operator of GCash.

These new businesses include subsidiaries and affiliates such as Adspark, Rush and Asticom Technology Inc.

Globe noted that AdSpark, a digital advertising agency, recorded revenues of P1.2 billion last year—a 32-percent growth from 2020. Rush, a loyalty solutions provider, also posted “more than 100-percent revenue growth” over the past year, while its user base hit 3.8 million.

Globe’s online grocery platform PureGo, a venture with businessman Lucio Co’s Puregold Price Club Inc., grew 75 percent last year, although no further details were provided. Globe said PureGo was available in all cities in Metro Manila, and in Cavite, Bulacan and Rizal.

The companies are under Globe subsidiary 917Ventures, whose portfolio includes Mynt and telehealth service platform KonsultaMD.

“Using our core telco business and spurred by rapid consumer digital adoption, we are doubling down on the shift to become a digital solutions platform,” Cu said.

“Globe currently offers several diverse high-growth enterprises in healthtech, fintech, adtech, e-commerce, e-learning and entertainment, among others. We will continue to innovate to deliver services that empower and uplift Filipinos’ lives,” he added.

—Miguel R. Camus INQ

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