Philippines’ Kickstart to support high-growth startups using fresh $50M funds

Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu speaks to startup founders, mentors, partners during Kickstart’s 3rd anniversary celebration. Photo courtesy of Kickstart.

Philippine telecommunications giant Globe Telecom announced today it is injecting up to US$50 million into its incubator arm Kickstart Ventures, which will use the fresh capital to support high-potential startups.

The amount the group dubs as “Fund 2” is possibly the largest commitment to startup investing coming out of a Philippine company, Globe claims. It will target startups expanding anywhere in the world with clear regional and global prospects.

“In the Philippines, I have yet to see a startup break-through in a big way, not because of lack of talent but because the whole sector is devoid of support. Large tech incumbents operate well here, but startups struggle,” Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu says in a statement.

He adds: “Globe has been finding and working with smaller, innovative startups to boost the quality of its customer experience, with very good results. So good that they get acquired by large global companies at respectably higher valuations. Seeing this potential, we believe that Kickstart can use the VC fund to help our startup partners to scale even faster via an equity investment.”

Kickstart started in 2012 with a US$2.4 million capital or “Fund 1” and then got a US$1.1 million top-up under the same program for 2015 deals. Fund 1 eyed startups based in any country, and which needed closer, more frequent mentoring. Thus, Fund 1 portfolio companies tended to have some of their operations in the Philippines, Globe explains.

Fund 2 will also support startups in any country, but this time, the more developed ones that have validated their markets and are now looking to expand. These startups would be focused on the digital communications and telecoms industries, as well as media, data analytics, internet of things, financial services, health, education, IT security, and energy and spectral efficiency.

“We are looking for startups that have strategic capabilities of value to communications and digital companies, in which we could invest more significant sums at series A round and beyond to drive customer adoption and market momentum. These startups can be anywhere in the world and this new fund underscores our confidence that Philippine capital and the Philippine market will support innovation,” notes Kickstart president Minette Navarrete.

To date, Kickstart has made 20 investments, which have also attracted follow-on funding from other investors, including Y Combinator, 500 Startups, and IMJ Investment Partners.