The 4th quarter 2022 round-up of The Philippines’ technology, startup and VC news headlines, gathered from online press coverage in October, November and December of 2022.
Tech news headlines from The Philippines in 2022’s 4th quarter covered items including the rise in digitally-based lending services, cryptocurrency developments and issues in the country, funding for the Filipino Web3 space, and more. Hit the headline links below to read each article in full, online.
December 2022 | November 2022 | October 2022
December 2022: Philippines
Philippine Venture Capital Report 2022 – BCG, Foxmont
- Taiwan’s Gogoro to pilot battery swapping and smart scooters in the Philippines in 2023, with gov’t also announcing removal of import duties on EVs and parts for the next 5 years
- Philippines: CIMB Bank partners SeaMoney digital payments provider with sights on onboarding 2.5M BNPL loan customers via Shopee in 2023
- Philippines: The PH SaaS Challenge launches, seeking B2B solutions from local and international early-stage startups
- Philippines: A-Labs launches $10M Web3 fund, with first cohort for its Archipelago Labs Accelerator Block set to run in 2023
- Philippines: A look at how TZ APAC enables Filipino artists and startups to take part in the Web3 space
“Loopymoon is a Filipino multi-disciplinary artist experimenting with trippy digital patterns and collages who wants to bring the texture, “loopiness” and feels of paint (oil, acrylic, etc.) to the digital realm. This artist also experiments with AI (Artificial Intelligence) art by using it as a base canvas with which he creates even more loopy patterns and scenes.”
- Philippines: CoinsPH digital wallet and crypto exchange platform gains central bank Advanced Electronic Payment and Financial Services license
- Philippines: UNO Digital Bank partners Singapore’s Trusting Social to boost consumer lending options for Filipino consumers, utilizing telco data in credit risk assessment
- Philippines: Gov’t this year activated 4757 WiFi sites in 17 regions, 75 provinces and in Metro Manila, in addition to 606 cities and municipalities, as part of digitization initiative
- ICYMI: Endeavor Philippines Impact Report 2022, looking at the growth of the Philippines’ entrepreneurial ecosystem
Lowy Institute: Asia Power Index, 2023 edition
November 2022: Philippines
Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2022
- “Rural banks serve more than half of the Philippines’ population [of 111 million]. Yet less than a quarter of them have started digitising.”
- UnionBank of the Philippines launches pilot program to intro crypto assets custody and trading for clients, partnering Switzerland’s Metaco to offer retail clients trading in Bitcoin and Ethereum
- Philippines: Humble Sustainability secures $750K focusing on excess inventory – returned items from e-commerce, logistics and retail – preventing landfill growth and moving items on to resellers
- Philippines: Archipelago Labs startup accelerator launches to invest in and boost promising startups and talents in the Filipino Web3 ecosystem
“By the end of 2022, A-Labs aims to release its first iteration of the State of the Archipelago, a quarterly report on all things Web3 in the Philippines. In 2023, the accelerator program will run its first cohort for the Archipelago Labs Accelerator Block (ALAB), an 8-week cohort-based accelerator program.”
- Philippines: Murch university student-led e-commerce platform wins Innovation Champion award at ASEAN Young Business Youth Association LEAPS Demo Day
- Philippines: Dept of Trade and Industry aims to roll out $4M Startup Venture Fund by early 2023, citing change in administration for delays
- Philippines: Filipino startups can now apply for the Dep’t of Info and Comm’ss Technology Startup Grant Fund, potentially receiving grants of up to PHP1 million
- Philippines: BayaniPay raises $4.5M with cross-border digital financial services for the Filipino American community
“It said East West Bank joins BDO Unibank, the Philippines’ largest bank; Asian Journal, one of the leaders in the Asian American media industry; and Seafood City, the largest Filipino-owned supermarket chain in the US, in BayaniPay’s roster of collaborators.”
- Philippine Economic Zone Authority inks MOUs with 2 Japanese firms, aiming to boost investments in renewable energy and manufacturing, and to facilitate related-industry Japanese and Filipino startups
- Philippines: PLDT telco expands international cable network with 9400km subsea Asia Direct Cable, linking to Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam and China
- Philippines: NOW Telecom gains US Trade & Development Agency support in deployment of 5G tech
- Philippines: First low-earth orbit satellite broadband service in Southeast Asia set for launch in the Philippines with USAID support, and in partnership with SpaceX Starlink
“USAID is supporting the launch of the first Low Earth Orbit Satellite Broadband Service in Southeast Asia, in partnership with SpaceX Starlink, in the Philippines.”
- Philippines: Nanotronics, backed by Dep’t of Science & Tech, takes Shell LiveWIRE award with production of sustainable nanomaterials derived from renewable indigenous plants, for industrial uses
- South Korea’s Perigee Aerospace inks MoU with Philippine Space Agency, seeing opportunity to become ‘SpaceX of Asia’
October 2022: Philippines
e-Conomy Philppines Report 2022 / Google, Temasek, Bain (pdf download)
- Philippines: MooMart preps for December launch with online marketplace for farmers and buyers to transact directly, minus middlemen and stores, aiming for better profits for farmers and fresher produce for consumers
- Philippines: Digital Pilipinas Festival takes place October 17th to 21st
- Philippines: Gov’t enacts law requiring all SIM cards to be registered, aiming to curb mobile phone scams and related crimes
- Lufthansa Technik Philippines selects LTP Startup Challenge finalists, with Thailand’s Block Aero and Singapore’s Augmenteed in the top 4
- Philippines: UBX and Unit 256 partner to launch country’s first tokenized NFT platform, lowering ownership costs with fractionalization
- Philippines: An introduction to FactsFirstPH, a Google News Initiative-backed resource addressing the rise of disinformation
- Philippines: Packworks B2B platform for mom-and-pop stores takes win at Ignite 2022 Startup World Cup x Wildfire Pitch competition, moving on to compete in 2023 SWC Grand Finale
- Philippines: Digital Pilipinas inks MOU with Singapore’s Affinidi decentralised ID solutions provider around open standard ‘verifiable credentials’ for use in workforce-focused digital upskilling
- Union Bank of the Philippines preps to enter The Sandbox metaverse platform, looking to engage the Filipino Web3 community with sights on the next generation of potential customers
- Union Bank of the Philippines unveils new digital collectibles trading platform, Artifract, allowing tokenization of real-world or digital assets, and fractionalization of asset ownership
- Philippines: Quezon City unveils StartUp QC program to provide qualified startup entrepreneurs in the city with financial grants of up to $17K
Credit Suisse Research: The global effects of Asia’s aging population
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