A Philippine-based fintech startup, NextPay, has raised 1.6million US dollars in a recent seed funding co-led by Golden Gate Ventures and Gentree Fund, a venture vehicle of the Sy family, the family behind SM Group in the Philippines.

Some of the other investors that joined the round include Broadhaven Ventures, Saison Capital, Razorpay, Tribe Capital, and Chinmay Chauhan of BukuWarung.

Lisa Gokongwei, a private investor from JG Summit and Goodwater Capital, a customer tech investor who had previously invested in Twitter, Facebook, and Spotify, invested in this round of funding alongside local venture capitals such as Kickstart Ventures (Ayala Group), and Foxmont Capital.

According to NextPay, part of the 1.6millions USD will be invested in expanding their range of services, growing customer base, and developing and optimizing new digital banking solutions to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

CEO and co-founder of the digital financial solution platform, Don Pansacola, shared that they have a firm belief in the ever-evolving and continuous digital changes in business banking as the Philippines accelerates its digital transformation initiatives.

He added, “This investment supports our goal of putting the power of big banks in the hands of small businesses,”

The success of the seed funding helped speed up their plan to introduce meaningful digital banking solutions, such as corporate cards, loans, and platform integrations for MSMEs.

The fintech startup was launched in 2020 during the Coronavirus pandemic as a digital platform that allows customers to democratize access to affordable financial services in the Philippines.

User does not have to pay for any set-up fees or excessive requirements to make payment via this pay-per-use platform. Companies can run many functions here, such as managing cash flow, collecting payments from customers via invoices, and paying their employees, bills, or suppliers to any bank or through an e-wallet.

NextPay has processed more than 9.1 million US dollars since launch, and Golden Gate Ventures Partner Justin Hall complimented, “NextPay is building industry-leading digital banking solutions for SMEs to manage better their finances: from payroll to collections, to invoicing.”