Philippine conglomerate eyes digital startups with $50m investment arm

Philippine conglormerate JG Summit Holdings said it has allocated a US$50 million fund to invest in digital technology-focused startups based in Southeast Asia through its investment arm, JG Digital Equity Ventures (JG DEV).

The company, whose interests include power and petrochemicals, plans to plunk down US$1 million to US$10 million in series A and series B rounds of startups working with digital technologies.

Photo credit: Pixabay.

JG DEV will invest in sectors such as data, financial services, consumer, new media, logistics, and digital health sectors, according to a company statement.

BJ Sebastian serves as CEO for the JG DEV team, which will work with an investment committee led by Lance Y. Gokongwei, group president and CEO of JG Summit.

“JG is known to have very strong offline businesses. Our group is behind the pack in this digital journey, so our challenge is to leapfrog from where we are,” said Sebastian.

So far, JG DEV has invested in Growsari, a marketplace for convenience stores, digital lending platform Cashalo, and cashback app Snapcart.