MANILA -Talino Venture Studios, a Filipino-owned venture builder, received a $5-million capital infusion from international development firm Chemonics International to fund scalable technology solutions addressing financial inclusion.
In a recent statement, the venture capitalist said its partnership with Chemonics would focus on building financial technology to onboard unbanked Filipinos onto formal banking platforms.
“With a history of successful transformations and ventures and a commitment to people-first innovation, we’re devoted to closing the financial inclusion gap for the underserved individuals and communities in emerging nations worldwide,” Talino CEO Winston Damarillo said.
“Innovation happens with smart investments and smart partnerships, and our investment in Talino represents the coming together of two unique and complementary companies,” Chemonics president and CEO Jamey Butcher added.
Included in its portfolio is BayaniPay, a digital remittance platform targeting overseas Filipino workers and migrants in the United States. It is eyeing to have a presence in Canada by the first quarter of next year after establishing a footprint in California, Hawaii, New Jersey and Alaska.
Other target destinations are Illinois, Nevada, New York and Washington.
Amid its expansion plan, the company recently raised $2.1 million in fresh funding, bringing its total capitalization to $6.6 million.
BayaniPay is aiming to reach P1 billion worth of transaction value this year, which is three times more than it registered in 2022. It is optimistic that the upcoming holidays will boost the transactions. Currently, it has an average transaction value of more than P100 million monthly, significantly higher than P30.64 million a year ago.
The company has 18,000 users so far but it plans to grow this to 100,000 in two years.