Is the Philippines going to be the next top Southeast Asian startup scene?

The tech startup scene is blossoming all around the world, and the Philippines is no exception. With the country dubbed as the second fastest growing economy in Asia, foreign investors are setting their sights on the Philippines, entering into joint ventures with small but promising startups and slowly making the country their production hubs in ASEAN.

Though the Philippine startup scene is young, it isn’t devoid of fresh ideas and talented minds. For instance, entrepreneur Aisa Mijeno founded Sustainable Alternative Lighting Corporation (SALt), whose main product is a lamp that runs for eight hours powered by one cup of saltwater. Xurpas Inc., one of the earlier generations of homegrown Philippine tech companies, had its initial public offering last year in the Philippine Stock Exchange.

“The Philippines can become a leader in using technology to address emerging market problems,” said Earl Valencia, president and founder of the IdeaSpace Foundation, a Manila-based incubator and accelerator program that supports technology entrepreneurs in the country.

Venture capitalists from Japan, Singapore, and the United States are eyeing Philippine tech companies, aiming to use the youthful, tech-savvy, and English-speaking Philippines as a springboard to jump into other emerging markets like Indonesia and India.

Similarly, various foreign business missions from Russia, Egypt, and the Netherlands seem to also be attracted to the country. “Foreign investors are actually looking at using the Philippines as a hub for ASEAN that is how PCCI is marketing the Philippines also,” said Alfredo Yao, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Among the foreign companies that have already invested in the Philippines include Lenddo, which uses social media to build credit scores for people with no credit history, enabling them to get bank loans for the first time. Considering that 80 percent of Filipinos don’t have bank accounts, this could prove to be beneficial for the middle classes.

There is also foreign tech enterprise M6 Ltd., which recently launched the Born2Invest app that delivers 80-word business and finance news summaries from a lineup of trusted financial sources and makes these available in one clutter-free app. Many of its team members are based in Manila. The company is also planning to partner with local media organizations in the delivery of up-to-date financial news.

“We’re actually here to join venture with you and make sure that your news is being read by the people who matter on the device,” said Dom Einhorn, founder and chief marketing officer of M6. “We’re in a position where we will be able to get you incremental readers for your publication, always crediting the source and making sure that you’ll be able to capture a good portion of that market share that’s rapidly dwindling and falling wayside.”

By launching here in the Philippines, M6 plans to make Born2Invest a dominant player in the business news production and syndication space among emerging economies. Within the next six months, the app is expected to be translated to more than 50 languages and break into more than 150 markets.

With a combination of actionable ideas, burgeoning economy, and skilled entrepreneurs, the Philippines is on its way to becoming a true leader in the ASEAN tech startup scene.