Coins.ph, a Philippine Bitcoin remittance application and brokerage, has secured an additional $5 mln in its Series A funding round led by South African Internet conglomerate Naspers’ venture capital firm Naspers Venture.
In October, Coins.ph secured a $5 mln dollar Series A investment from leading early-stage investors including Quona Capital, Kickstart Ventures, Ideaspace Foundation and Digital Currency Group.
Efficient business model that paid off
The participation of Kickstart Ventures and Ideaspace Foundation marked an important milestone for the company as the two investment firms are operated by Globe Telecom and Smart Communications, two of the largest telecommunications conglomerates in the Philippines.
At the time, Coins.ph Co-Founder and CEO Ron Hose stated that the capital will be allocated in growing and expanding the company’s reach throughout the Philippines and Southeast Asia.
“[The funding] comes at a time when we have already been able to validate some base assumptions in our business model, as well as build a loyal customer base,” explained Hose.
Since then, Coins.ph has experienced a meteoric growth in terms of user base and activity. It has become the leading Bitcoin service provider in the Philippines and it has expanded throughout Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong - three countries that significantly lack local Bitcoin applications which users can rely on to send and receive payments, purchase and sell Bitcoin and utilize the digital currency to process utility bills.
Using Bitcoin to optimize the processing of transaction
The global remittance sector is a $500 bln market with 230 mln people sending and receiving money from remittance service providers such as Western Union and MoneyGram. Startups like Coins and Satoshi Citadel Industries in the Philippines are attempting to innovate the market and utilize Bitcoin to optimize the processing of transactions.
Over the past year, Coins.ph has secured partnerships with some of the Philippines’ largest financial institutions and remittance outlets, simplifying the purchasing and selling of Bitcoin for local users.
Currently, users on the Coins.ph application can purchase and sell Bitcoin via 24/7 available bank ATMs, remittance outlets, convenience stores, wire transfers and over-the-counter bank payments. It has also introduced a virtual VISA card for Bitcoin users and enabled users to pay for utility bills such as electricity, rental, tuition and water fees using Bitcoin.
Justin Leow, head of business operations for Coins, stated:
“The problems that we’re currently solving in the Philippines and Thailand aren’t unique to those countries. 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.”
Furthermore, Leow noted that Coins has added one mln users so far, helping the unbanked obtain financial services with lower fees and lesser requirements.