Philippine property startup Aqwire nets $2.1m in series A round led by Spiral Ventures

Aqwire, a property and fintech platform based in the Philippines, announced that it has raised US$2.1 million in a series A equity financing round led by Singapore-based VC firm Spiral Ventures.

Singapore VC firm Gentree, PropertyGuru founders-backed Vulpes, Hong Kong-based Betatron Venture Group, as well as PropertyGuru Group’s co-founder Steve Melhuish also participated in the round.

The company is also expecting US$2 million in venture loans to be used for float and security deposits.

Aqwire team / Photo credit: Aqwire

“Developers have difficulty accessing foreign buyers’ markets. Even if they do, cross-border property management and loan processing are still difficult,” Aqwire CEO Ray Refundo told Tech in Asia.

To help address this issue, Refundo co-founded Aqwire with Jesse Manalansan and Earvin Ang in 2018 to help developers and brokers access foreign property investors, including the 12 million Filipinos living overseas.

It provides services such as property listing (through partnerships with overseas listing sites), mortgage loans, property management, payments processing, charges for subscription, and loans referral fee income.

The company plans to use the new funds to expand its sales team and strengthen its technology to be “more scalable and secure,” according to Refundo.

Some of its clients include Ayala Land, Megaworld, Vista Land, and Century Properties.

The company has been profitable since 2019, generating US$1.7 million in revenue, Refundo claimed.

He added that the company is on track to finish 2020 with a “much stronger” revenue at around US$2.6 million, and he expects it to triple to around US$7.5 million to US$8 million next year.

Refundo also expects the company to hit US$1 billion in yearly gross volume by 2023.

Moving forward, the company will focus on real estate and expand further in Southeast Asia in the next couple of years.