Globe Telecom's Mynt, which operates mobile wallet app GCash, becomes the first tech unicorn in the Philippines after raising over $300M at a $2B+ valuation
the fintech backed by Alibaba's Ant Group BUT Mynt is really a corporate play since it span out of Globe Telecom Still, progress for a country that has lagged its peers with startup creation and investment https://www.dealstreetasia.com/ ... @arnold : I've used this service to send money to family in the Philippines. They're charged $0.50 to send/receive using GCash (attached to their cell). Extra useful for people without bank accounts but have cellphones (everyone there has a cellphone). https://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Mynt had approached unicorn status after a $175M multi-tranche financing earlier in 2021. The new round turns Globe Telecom’s fintech spinoff and GCash operator into a much more highly valued asset, with Ant Group still providing strategic backing.
The milestone arrives as Southeast Asian fintech funding was accelerating across a growing number of deals, while telecom-linked financial platforms were emerging as a distinct Philippine competitive set.
First-order effects
- Mynt gains more than $300M of new capital and a valuation above $2B, strengthening the financial position of GCash’s operator and validating Globe Telecom’s decision to house the business separately.
- Globe Telecom and Ant Group gain a clearer valuation marker for their Mynt exposure as the company becomes the country’s first tech unicorn.
Second-order effects
- The valuation sets a tougher Philippine fintech benchmark for PLDT-linked Voyager, whose PayMaya and Maya Bank business later raised $210M at a $1.4B valuation.
- The round gives investors a prominent Philippine example within the broader regional funding surge, where fintech companies raised roughly $3B across 80 deals in 2021.
Third-order effects
- If telecom-backed wallets continue to attract standalone growth capital, Philippine consumer finance is likely to be organized increasingly around platform companies rather than carriers’ internal service units.
- The concentration of large rounds in leading wallets points toward a market in which a small number of well-capitalized platforms set the pace for payments and adjacent financial services.
The trend: Philippine fintech is moving from carrier-owned wallet services toward independently valued, regionally financed financial platforms.