- Premium Content It takes our newsroom weeks - if not months - to investigate and produce stories for our premium content. You can’t find them anywhere else.
Elyssa Lopez · · 6 min readHigh hopes and grim realities for GCash IPO
The first time Mynt floated the idea of an IPO in 2023, Tim Cook was still Apple’s CEO and Joe Biden was still the US president.
In June, the company, which runs the Philippines’ largest e-wallet operator GCash, finally announced that its board had given the go signal for the firm to file for an IPO in the Philippines, putting the business closer to going public than it has been in three years.
Image credit: Ulla
Will a listing finally happen this time? After all, Mynt has repeatedly delayed plans to go public.
Should it push through, however, this will mark one of the first exits for the local fintech scene via IPO – a much needed boost for the world’s worst-performing stock market.
But first, the company would have to convince investors that the valuation it is seeking – US$8 billion – is worth it.
With GCash’s plans officially out in the open, many are awaiting whether its financial standing is as good as Mynt has drummed it up to be, and some are wondering how the listing could potentially open the door for other fintech firms to follow suit.
As good as it gets
Analysts tell Tech in Asia that there’s reason to believe a listing could happen as soon as this year.
GCash has “done a fabulous job in terms of the product development and rollout, and their market position is strong,” Daniel Broby, professor at the Asian Institute of Management, tells Tech in Asia. “So in the point of view of GCash, this is as good as it gets.”
As of 2024, when it released its most recently available figures, GCash had 94 million registered users, which captures about 85% of the country’s total population. Since 2019, the firm has expanded its services beyond being an ewallet, relaunching as a super app. Users can now access credit and buy insurance, stocks, and even food on the app.
A man pays via GCash at a local convenience store / Photo credit: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock
Much of the company’s growth could be owed to the pandemic, as adoption quickly accelerated during the country-mandated lockdowns. By 2022, Mynt began to significantly contribute to the bottom line of its parent company Globe Telecom.
As of the first quarter of 2026, GCash contributed 1.9 billion pesos (US$30.9 million) to Mynt’s earnings.
Worst-performing stock market in the world
A boost for local fintech firms?
Stay ahead in Asia’s tech landscape
This is premium content. Subscribe to read the full story.
After several delays, analysts believe GCash will list soon. But this will only be half the battle won, as it will have to face a sluggish market.
We know this is not ideal. ⌛ Sign up in 20 seconds. Cancel anytime.
Our subscriber community includes professionals from these companies:
Stay updated on the go with our mobile app.
Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app.
