Tag: Philippines

Philippines — Just in time for International Women’s Day, Grab Philippines is opening a fresh offering in its super app – where users can now make bookings for salon and wellness home services. This is specifically in partnership with PH-based beauty and wellness service platform Parlon.

Staying true to the theme of IWD, the said partnership in fact aims to encourage women to celebrate and get pampered safely and conveniently at the comfort of their homes. This campaign marks the first salon home service partnership in the region and features popular salon favourites Marqed Salon, The Secret Lounge, Benibana Beauty Hub, Vine Aesthetics, Lay Bare, and Passionails. Home service appointments on haircuts, beauty treatments, and grooming services from these salons are now available via the Grab app with more Parlon partner salons expected to be onboarded after launch.

Claire Ongcangco, CEO of Parlon, said that this is a very important milestone for Parlon because it has always been their mission to digitalize the salon and wellness industry.

“We’re not just here to create a marketplace or software. We aim to build an ecosystem and we strongly believe that home service will play a part in the industry’s future as we continue to navigate a post-pandemic life. We’re very happy to be sharing this breakthrough with Grab and we’re hoping that this partnership is just the beginning of many revolutionary firsts for both of us,” Ongcango said.

Anton Bautista, head of deliveries for Grab Philippines, commented, “We are delighted to have Parlon and their partner salons available in the Grab app through GrabMart. As a leading everyday super app in Southeast Asia, Grab is constantly looking for ways to make lives better for each and every Filipino. This International Women’s Month, our partnership with Parlon will bring the most-trusted salon brands closer to every Filipina and even bring excellent beauty services right to their homes through a tap of a button. This partnership strengthens our mission of creating an ecosystem of different everyday essentials easily available to our consumers.”

The promotion values at a minimum of PHP 3,000 excluding the transportation fee, customers may book home service via the GrabMart option, selecting their chosen salon and service, picking a time slot, and checking out their appointments—just like how food is ordered. Multiple services from one salon also can be booked for a total pampering experience.

“We’ve entered this partnership with both the consumers and the salon industry in mind. At Parlon, we want to give consumers easily accessible options to book their home service appointments while keeping the comfort of salon owners and staff as well. We’re confident that with Grab’s strong reputation of delivering safe and convenient rides, our beauty providers won’t have to worry about the hassle of travelling with all their tools and equipment,” Ongcangco said.

Through this collaboration, stylists and beauty technicians will enjoy hassle-free car transport services to and from their client’s houses for every appointment.

Manila, Philippines – The Philippine-based e-commerce, Konstruk, has launched its online platform that allows users to make online transactions for home improvement and construction supplies.

The platform, dubbed as ‘the first e-hardware ng bayan’, which translates to ‘the first e-hardware of the city’, was built on the realisation that while many businesses have transitioned online, the construction sector has not been able to fully do so. Moreover, the lockdown brought by the pandemic emphasised the importance of having an online presence. As the construction sector was not spared from the losses inflicted by the pandemic, small to medium businesses were amongst those who received the heaviest casualties, especially with the absence of an online platform.

With this in mind, Konstruk seeks to promote business continuity in the construction and home improvement sector. The digital marketing platform will help community hardware stores, wholesalers and distributors, and manufacturers of construction materials, including home appliances and furniture, become part of the online business ecosystem to promote new products and push their inventory through the platform.

In addition, the customers can now conveniently shop at Konstruk website and app and choose from a wide range of products. They are also assured that their transactions are reliable and safe as payment methods such as the Metrobank payment gateway system and Gcash are available.

Rommel Bulalacao, Konstruk’s founder and CEO, shared that the majority of the merchants from the construction sector, especially the MSMEs, are still brick-and-mortar stores or do not have sufficient capabilities to bring their business online

“Konstruk is committed to helping the industry build back better. As the first e-hardware ng bayan, we will continue to innovate and improve our service for the benefit of our partner merchants and customers,” said Bulalacao.

Philippines – PLDT, one of the largest telcos in the country, alongside its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications, have announced its partnership with global customer experience and employee platform Medallia.

Through the CX implementation Medallia will be supported by global media company Kantar in implementing the technology solution across PLDT and Smart. Medallia and Kantar joined the PLDT team for a digital signing ceremony to officially seal the deal. Furthermore, with support from Medallia and Kantar, PLDT and Smart aims to optimise customer experience management across all channels, including digital platforms, mobile phone applications, and contact centres. 

Alfredo S. Panlilio, president and CEO of PLDT and Smart, said, “A large part of our commitment to provide world-class connectivity for all Filipinos is to empower our people and processes with technology that allows them to render the best customer experience.”

He added, “Our engagement with Medallia and Kantar gives us this technology, and empowers us to listen and respond to our customers more effectively, as they are our North Star for all group-wide efforts,.”

Meanwhile, Leslie Stretch, president and CEO of Medallia, commented, “To thrive in the highly competitive world of telecommunications, providers must delight customers and employees by responding to their needs with the same speed, interactivity, and connectivity that they expect from your network.”

“Medallia helps amplify the voice of customers across all touchpoints, enabling PLDT and Smart to listen and act on feedback in a consistent, deliberate, and thoughtful manner. We look forward to working with PLDT and Smart to delight customers with world-class experiences,” Stretch added.

He added, “Medallia continues to expand across the telecommunications industry in APAC and currently works with customers in key markets including Singapore, Japan, and Indonesia, to help optimise their customer experience.”

Philippines — Philippines-based MullenLowe TREYNA, a subsidiary of global integrated marketing communications network MullenLowe Group headquartered in the United Kingdom, has announced a series of key promotions in their business, public relations, executive, and leadership divisions.

Both Raya Beron and Stephanie Velasco are appointed as senior business managers. Meanwhile, Kathryn Nadela, with her strong experience in regionally-led brands, steps up to be the new business unit director. In recognition of key business unit growth, the agency also promotes Mel Jimenez to client services director role, now alongside Aimee Sarmiento, who continues in the same role for her own brands.

The continuing growth in the group’s PR division under MullenLowe MARC also prompts key promotions, with Aly Dizon moving up to senior account manager, and PR strategist, subsequently, with Joel Quizon elevated to business unit director.

Roman Olivarez, whose creative leadership has moved the needle for APAC-led brands such as Knorr, Surf, and Rexona, and has been recognized in local and international award shows, has been appointed to executive creative director. He will report to chief creative officer Abi Aquino, whose role expands to the group.

In addition, Raffy Bariso is also elevated to a group role, from executive director of technology and platform services to chief synergy officer. Lastly, Vanessa Julian is also elevated to overall head of HR.

On the appointments, Mike Trillana, chairman and CEO, said, “We’re one of the few agency groups in the Philippines that can legitimately deliver truly integrated solutions, powered by creativity. This recent set of promotions shows our continuing commitment to the growth of our talent and to our client’s business’.’’

Manila, Philippines – Local social commerce startup SariSuki has successfully raised US$7.1m, aimed at driving the startup’s expansion into the quick commerce scene. The funding round was led by Openspace, Susquehanna International Group (SIG), Global Founders Capital (GFC), Saison Capital, JG Digital Equity Ventures, and Foxmont Capital Partners.

In total, SariSuki has earned a total of US$10.5m in funding. Furthermore, the new funding will be used to increase the business’ product assortment, dark warehouses, and geographic expansion.

The startup is founded by Bam Mejia as chief commercial officer, Philippe Lorenzo as chief operating officer, Angelo Lee as head of strategy and fundraising and Brian Cu as chief executive officer. For SariSuki, hyper-convenience is a key strategy in breaking down more barriers to e-commerce adoption and creating an end-to-end e-grocery platform.

Cu said, “We are a set of founders that grew up in the Philippines and have an understanding of our market. This, combined with our background in scaling up large tech companies in the region, made us realise that we can do more with the supply chain infrastructure we have built. Quick commerce is a way for us to expand into serving the segment of our market that seeks hyper-convenience for a hyper-local product mix for their daily needs.”

SariSuki started in 2021 with a mission to empower communities with more options to shop for high quality groceries online – which it achieves by buying fresh produce in bulk from local farmers and offering them to the local community at a discounted price.

To address long-existing supply chain inefficiencies, SariSuki adopts an agent-assisted model, servicing its consumers through ‘Community Leaders’. Members of communities who set up their business as a ‘Community Leader’ see meaningful income expansion as they profit from selling produce whilst performing the last mile fulfilment. This model has enabled SariSuki to offer supermarket quality products at wet market prices.

Manila, Philippines – Singapore-based fintech Volopay has successfully raised US$29m in its latest series A funding, which they aim to fuel their expansion into the Philippines. Said investment round was made possible by JAM Fund, the Winklevoss Capital Management, Rapyd Ventures, Accial Capital, fintech veteran and angel investor Jeffrey Cruttenden, CEO of Acorns. 

Other investors present include Access Ventures, Antler Global, and VentureSouq.

Volopay’s foray into the Philippine market aims to tackle two of the most pressing problems that SMEs and startups face: high Forex (FX) charges incurred for international payments and the lack of a uniform platform to access all spend data. 

Through the market expansion, Volopay provides companies with multi-currency wallets to hold money in PHP and any major currency – USD, SGD, EUR, GBP – and subsequently use it for payouts, eliminating exorbitant amounts of FX charges levied on international payments.

Rajith Shaji, co-founder and CEO at Volopay, said, “Volopay is an ambitious project. To build an alternative to Volopay, you would have to launch five different startups. We are building the control centre for modern companies for all their financial management needs. Our platform is as easy and seamless to use for a five-person company, as it is for a 500-person company. We want to take our vision of a unified spend management platform to all companies across the world after our initial markets of APAC and MENA.”

Through constructing their own infrastructure, Volopay will enable their global clients to eliminate the need for integration with multiple third-party financial services platforms, delivering a consistent and delightful customer experience regardless of the region they are operating in.

Meanwhile, Rajesh Raikwar, co-founder and CTO at Volopay, commented, “With APAC & MENA making a big wave on the global stage by churning out several unicorn level enterprises every year, accelerating their growth requires an efficient expense management tool that is simple yet scalable, something that Volopay has always aimed for.”

Part of Volopay’s Series A funds will be put towards their forthcoming market launches, building and innovating new technologies to complement their existing product, in addition to enhancing integrations with leading enterprise software and project management applications. The company is also hiring aggressively for key positions in each of its markets. 

Volopay aims to disrupt traditional business banking and aims to be adopted as the single and only solution growing, global businesses need for their cards, invoice automation, and bill payments along with the added bonus of a multi-currency business account without the hassle and limitations of a traditional bank.

Manila, Philippines – Tapping into Filipinos’ love for heart-warming stories, fast-food chain Jollibee continues to release more films that capture the spirit of new, true-to-life stories unique to the experiences of Filipinos in these current times. 

The films are made in partnership with agency McCann Worldgroup, and will also present themes of challenges that come with finding love during the pandemic, and have repeatedly redefined love for some and shown the real meaning of love to others.

For this year’s Kwentong Jollibee Valentines series, we get a genuine snapshot of this era – from lockdown relationships to K-drama crushes – as well as nuanced definitions of love from different perspectives.

The shorts ‘600 Days’ and ‘Dream Guy’ are directed by Antoinette Jadaone, while ‘ILY’ is directed by JP Habac. Both acclaimed filmmakers have captured the hearts of Pinoy audiences with previous Kwentong Jollibee episodes–‘LDR’ (2021) by Jadaone and the smash-hit ‘One True Pair The Movie’ (2021) featuring John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo by Habac.

Arline Adeva, assistant vice president and head of brand PR, engagement, and digital marketing at Jollibee, said, “What makes every Kwentong Jollibee film resonate and touch the lives of Filipinos is that these stories are rooted in the Filipino experience. We continuously make an effort to have our viewers know that their emotions, situations, problems, and successes are seen and heard while constantly reminding them that while the world may change, love will always remain constant and unflinching.”

Meanwhile, Sid Samodio, executive creative director at McCann Worldwide Philippines, commented that one thing that sets ‘Kwentong Jollibee’ apart is how it’s always current and timely. He added that it’s culled from life lessons and stories of different people through experiences brought by the times.

“Two years into the pandemic, we found that people were in a state of uncertainty. There have been so many stops and starts, with everybody needing to adjust to the constant changes. And in a world where people are becoming increasingly separated from one another, and where more relationships are formed and maintained online instead of face to face, where can we find the real meaning of love,” he concluded.

Manila, Philippines – Tinkoff, the global online financial ecosystem centred around the needs of customers, has extended its partnership with integrated digital ecosystem provider BPC, to leverage the firm’s SaaS Cloud payment services for its planned expansion to the Philippines.

The project is an extension of an existing partnership between the two companies. This is a testimony to BPC’s proven technical expertise in digital banking and payments, as well as its extensive local knowledge and experience in the Philippines and across Asia.

The new agreement entails that BPC’s next-generation payment processing company, Radar Payments, will be managing the end-to-end payment experience for prospective Tinkoff customers in the country. This includes virtual and physical card production, as well as debit, credit card issuance and management, SmartVista ACS for 3DS secure services, and fraud prevention.

Moreover, BPC will be supporting Tinkoff in cloud SaaS payment adoption in the Philippines, a trend that has emerged globally for many reasons, including greater flexibility in accessing banking services, and cost savings and security.

Tinkoff said that it also chose BPC for its capability to support its ambitious growth both in terms of customers and expected transaction volume.

George Chesakov, Tinkoff’s international expansion lead, believes that their technology and experience will help them build the right products, boosting financial inclusion in the Philippines. 

“With BPC’s payment processing business, we have a partner with whom we have a long-standing relationship and who aligns with our SaaS Cloud vision. Moreover, we value BPC’s strong local knowledge of the Philippines’ banking sector, which should help us start operating in this market faster,” said Chesakov.

Meanwhile, Evgenia Loginova, the CEO at Radar Payments by BPC, shared that they could not be any prouder to continue their journey serving Tinkoff and its future customers in Asia. 

“Success depends on the speed of deployment of new services in the digital banking industry, especially in the Philippines market, which will welcome a number of new market players in 2022,” said Loginova.

Manila, Philippines – Local fintech and online payments company PayMongo has secured US$31m in funding from their series B funding, which they aim to serve local SMEs more. Said investment round participants include Justin Mateen’s JAM Fund, Philippine VC firms ICCP-SBI Venture Partners and Lisa Gokongwei’s Kaya Founders, together with existing investors Global Founders Capital and SOMA Capital. 

In addition, founders of top European fintech unicorns and startups Qonto, Viva Wallet, Billie and Scalable joined the investment round. This then brings the company’s total funding to just under US$46m, following a US$12m Series A round in 2020 and a US$2.7m seed round in 2019.

Through the funding, PayMongo will continue to scale its operations by strengthening its current payments infrastructure and venturing into more financial services. This involves building products such as disbursements, capital lending, ‘buy now, pay later’, subscriptions and recurring payments, among many others. 

It will likewise explore how the Philippines can serve as a springboard for the digital transformation of financial services in other emerging markets.

For Francis Plaza, CEO and co-founder at PayMongo, the investment is a testament to their growth and the continued growth of their merchants. He added that with this Series B, they will invest further in their merchants’ successes by giving them more means to move money seamlessly online.

“While payment acceptance is crucial, it is just one of the many services that entrepreneurs need to build a successful online business. Our goal is to create a one-stop-shop for all these financial needs in the broader Southeast Asian region, starting with the Philippines,” he said.

Singapore — Southeast Asian data-driven loyalty platform Society Pass Incorporated, otherwise known as SoPa, announced its acquisition of Pushkart.ph, an online grocery delivery service in the Philippines as part of its expansion into the market.

Through the buyout, Pushkart.ph has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of SoPa and will leverage the platform’s capital to increase on-demand grocery shopping services to more consumers and more retailers initially to Metro Manila and then to all of the Philippines, while empowering grocery stores and restaurants to transform business models and further tap into online markets.

The announcement comes at a time of accelerated rapid growth for delivery services in the Philippines, with the internet economy expected to increase 24% from US$17b in 2021 to US$40b in 2025. Pushkart.ph is one of the Philippines’ growing e-commerce platforms, with a customer base of over 125,000 registered users, over 35,000 social media followers, and more than 20,000 mobile app downloads.

Dennis Nguyen, founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Society Pass, said that they are excited to combine the robust technology, retail and operational prowess of a high-performance brand like Pushkart.ph with SoPa’s brand-building experience.

“As the Philippine consumer faces tremendous challenges with traditional brick and mortar shopping due to a plethora of hurdles including excessive wait times in traffic/ public transport, SoPa aims to provide viable solutions by providing impetus to the growing e-commerce industry in the country. Given the immense potential of the Philippines market, we are very excited about the opportunities that this acquisition will bring in the upcoming months. In addition, as the Philippines is a cornerstone of SoPa’s VIP (Vietnam, Indonesia, and Philippines) acquisition strategy, I expect to acquire a number of market-leading companies in the Philippines over the next few months,” Nguyen said.

Michael Lim, CEO of Pushkart.ph, commented, “We are very excited to announce our acquisition by Society Pass; this partnership provides us with the opportunity to not only grow our presence in the Philippines but further our lead in the grocery delivery business. We are excited to join the larger SoPa ecosystem which will enable us to harness its integrated marketing and technology proposition while also strengthening our collective senior management resources. We foresee that this will lead to immediate returns in terms of cost optimization and increased revenue generation. With the capital provided by SoPa, Pushkart.ph will now be empowered to provide enhanced end to end solutions to our customers and ensure an amplified market presence.

The data-driven loyalty platform said that they are leveraging technology to provide a more personalised experience for customers in the purchase journey, to help transform the entire retail value chain in SEA. Through the acquisition of growing companies and partnership with visionary entrepreneurs in five distinct verticals: loyalty, lifestyle, travel, food & beverage and merchant software, SoPa expects to meet the region’s growing demand for better and more convenient services.

The acquisition is in line with SoPa’s core vertical focus and facilitates the proliferation of its growth in the Philippines while increasing consumer opportunities and delivering enhanced value. This move will also help tap the increasing digital penetration in the online grocery shopping space in the Philippines market.

In a press release, the SoPa disclosed that the offering of this acquisition is of immense consequence to the end-user with SoPa’s aggressive new plans for Pushkart.ph which include adding more hubs in key cities and regions and increasing its manpower. SoPa aims to expand Pushkart.ph’s technology offering, phenomenally increasing registered users to more than double to over 300,000 and driving app downloads to over 150,000 in 2022. Philippine consumers will be able to use Pushkart.ph app across 19 cities in Metro Manila with a guaranteed next day delivery service.