Philippine blockchain startup Coins tops up series A with another $5m

The Coins team. Photo credit: Coins.

Blockchain-powered fintech startup Coins announced today it has raised an extra US$5 million for its series A, which it first raised last October.

The funding is led by Naspers Ventures, the investment arm of South African tech and internet conglomerate Naspers. James Caviness, VP and chief product officer of Naspers’ fintech division PayU, will join the board of Coins.

The added funds will help Coins with its regional expansion, says Justin Leow, head of business operations for Coins.

Coins feels ready to proceed with its expansion plans.

Headquartered in Manila, Coins uses blockchain technology to enable financial services like money remittances, bill payments, and mobile credit top-up for its users, whether they have a bank account or not.

The unbanked – people who don’t have access to traditional banking services – are a big part of the company’s mission. The startup’s technology helps them access a range of those services through just a mobile phone. Users can top up their e-wallet easily at physical outlets that partner with Coins and thereafter use it for online transactions.

During the first instance of its series A, CEO Ron Hose had told Tech in Asia that Coins would prioritize growth within its existing markets, the Philippines and Thailand. Now the company feels “prepared” to proceed with its expansion plans.

“The problems that we’re currently solving in the Philippines and Thailand aren’t unique to those countries,” Justin says. “We see our platform as a scalable solution that is able to work in many of the developing countries in the region to address this need.”

Coins claims to have signed up over 1 million users. The startup doesn’t clarify how many of those are active. It doesn’t reveal any figures on transactions and growth rate at the moment either.

See: What you need to know about Naspers’ new venture capital arm in India

Justin says Naspers brings “substantial product expertise” to the table for Coins.

The South African firm has been an active investor in Asia. Through PayU, Naspers participated in the US$4 million series A of Singapore-headquartered bitcoin startup Luno, formerly known as BitX in 2015. PayU also acquired Indian payment service Citrus Pay for US$130 million last September.

More recently, Naspers invested US$435 million in Foodpanda parent company, Delivery Hero.