Advance scales with $16m raise, acquisition to target VN

From left: Advance CTO Enzo Doromal, CFO Addi Guevara, CEO Jaime de los Angeles, and chief product officer Stef Lim / Photo credit: Advance

In Southeast Asia, 70% of the population is unbanked or underbanked.

Nearly half of the Philippines don’t have bank accounts, while Vietnam’s 70% figure makes it the second-most unbanked population in the world. Firms such as Advance are on a mission to change this.

The Filipino startup provides financial services such as salary advances to underserved employees. The firm currently works with over 200 companies and recently acquired its Vietnam-based counterpart BravoHr to support its expansion into the country.

BravoHr already provides services to thousands of employees at companies such as McDonald’s, L’Oreal, and AstraZeneca.

Funding details

• Funding amount: US$16,000,000
• Lead investors: Do Ventures, Lendable
• Other investors: Phoenix Holdings, Kaya Founders, Foxmont Capital Partners, Oyster Ventures, Cross Ocean Ventures, Wavemaker Partners, Next Billion Ventures, Integra Partners, Accion Venture Lab
• Stage: Pre-series A
• Source

Advance recently partnered with customer experience firm Sitel Philippines, enabling 43,000 employees to access the former’s on-demand pay services.

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