Philippine VC raises $12m to back SEA startups from the ground up

The Kaya Founders team / Photo credit: Kaya Founders

Kaya Founders, a Philippine-based VC firm, has raised US$12 million for two new funds that will invest in tech startups in Southeast Asia, especially in its home turf.

The firm now has US$16.5 million in committed capital and looks to bump that up to US$25 million.

The raise was led by the Gokongwei family, one of the country’s largest business groups. The family’s conglomerate, JG Summit Holdings, notably runs VC firm JG Digital Equity Ventures, a backer of companies like Darwinbox, Growsari, and iPrice Group.

Kaya Founders’ two new funds are the Zero to One Fund – targeting pre-seed startups – and the One to Ten Fund, which focuses on seed to series A startups.

The firm looks to write checks ranging from US$150,000 to US$500,000. While both investment vehicles will remain sector-agnostic, the team will keep a sharper eye out for firms in the D2C ecommerce, B2B marketplace, future of work, climate tech, and generative AI segments.

Kaya Founders was founded in 2021 by Paulo Campos, Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng, and Constantin Robertz – experienced entrepreneurs and investors in sectors like ecommerce, media, and logistics. It has backed 31 startups so far in various sectors such as digital health, fintech, B2B SaaS, agritech, and proptech.

The Philippine startup ecosystem is growing fast, as adoption of online services continues to rise and the country’s young and affluent population shape new behaviors due to the pandemic. The country has seen a record amount of funding for startups in the last two years, exceeding US$1 billion annually.

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