Philippines-based Voyager, telecom PLDT's new fintech business, says it raised $215M, with $175M coming from Tencent and KKR
One of the year's largest fintech investments in Southeast Asia has closed after Philippines-based Voyager announced it raised $215 million.
Context & Ripple Effects
This round formalizes what PLDT previewed in October, when it said Tencent and KKR would invest up to $175M in Voyager for a minority stake — the close at $215M total makes it one of Southeast Asia's largest fintech deals of 2018 and hands the telco's payments arm outside capital for the first time.
The arc that follows validates the move: Voyager went on to raise another $121M plus $46M in committed funds in mid-2021, then $210M led by SIG at a $1.4B valuation in 2022, while rival carrier Globe Telecom funded its own payments arm Mynt through a comparable $175M multi-tranche raise.
First-order effects
- PLDT dilutes into a minority position in its own fintech subsidiary, trading control for Tencent and KKR capital and their distribution and portfolio reach.
- Voyager gets $215M to scale PayMaya against well-funded competition, in a market where both national carriers now back rival payment apps.
Second-order effects
- Globe Telecom's Mynt is forced onto the same playbook — external capital at near-unicorn valuation — turning Philippine mobile payments into a two-horse race between carrier spin-offs racing global investors.
- Tencent and KKR's entry signals to other funds that Filipino fintech is investable at scale, feeding the regional surge Refinitiv later tallied at roughly $3B across 80 Southeast Asian deals in 2021 alone.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Southeast Asian telecom operators systematically carve out payments units as standalone venture-backed companies rather than keeping them as internal divisions — restructuring who owns financial infrastructure in markets where carriers, not banks, hold the customer relationship.
The trend: Telecom carriers across Southeast Asia are spinning off their payments arms into independently funded fintechs, with global investors like Tencent and KKR setting the valuation pace.