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Prolific investment firm Naspers is making a push into bitcoin and financial services after it backed Philippines-based startup Coins.ph to the tune of $5 million.<\/p>\n
Coins is focused on offering financial services for the unbanked in the Philippines and Thailand. It uses the blockchain\u00a0as its underlying technology to facilitate transfers and remittances. It announced the new funding \u2014 which comes via the Naspers Ventures division \u2014\u00a0as an extension to the $5 million Series A round<\/a> that it closed last October.<\/p>\n Naspers, meanwhile, needs little introduction: the South Africa-based firm specializes in e-commerce and consumer businesses in emerging markets across the world. Its investments include Tencent, Asia\u2019s highest value tech firm, India\u2019s Flipkart, and\u00a0now-Amazon-owned Souq.com in the Middle East<\/a>\u00a0among many others.\u00a0Its primary presence in Southeast Asia is via\u00a0global e-commerce firm OLX, but\u00a0it did put money into Singapore-based bitcoin startup BitX in 2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cCoins has done an excellent job of providing consumers with easy, cost-effective access to\u00a0core financial services,\u201d James Caviness, VP and CPO of Naspers\u2019 PayU business, said in a statement. \u201cWe expect Coins to\u00a0continue to grow and expand across Southeast Asia.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of the investment, Caviness has joined the Coins board.<\/p>\n Expansion is exactly the plan, according\u00a0Justin Leow, head of business operations for Coins. Leow told TechCrunch in an interview that the company is now looking to bring its services to new markets, although he declined to get specific on future destinations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe issues we are solving in the Philippines are quite prevalent in the rest of the [Southeast Asian] region,\u201d he said. \u201cExisting financial systems exclude people who don\u2019t meet the income requirements. That issue is why we\u2019ve had such a large unbanked population.\u201d<\/p>\n The banking gulf is indeed huge.\u00a0Southeast Asia as a region houses more than 600 million consumers. Its internet economy is forecast to reach $200 billion per year<\/a> within the next decade but financial systems are a key requirement to make that happen. Currently,\u00a0just 27 percent of the region\u2019s population has a bank account, according to a KPMG report<\/a> published last year, and that\u2019s where Coins is looking to make an impact.<\/p>\n The startup currently offers a range of services that include\u00a0credit, basic banking, bill payments, top-up and remittance payments, none of which require a user to have a\u00a0bank account. It strikes partnerships with service providers to add further options to its users.\u00a0Leow said there are plans to offer more further down the line.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are\u00a0really trying to build an ecosystem of services,\u201d he explained, adding that companies like SoftBank-backed Paytm in India<\/a> are an inspiration. \u201cThe goal is a\u00a0wallet where people store money and can do everything with it.\u201d<\/p>\n Coins claims to have more than one million registered users and support from over\u00a0100,000 merchants.<\/p>\n Featured Image: fsecart<\/a>\/Flickr<\/a> UNDER A CC BY 2.0<\/a> LICENSE<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2014\/12\/549277847_8b294e9db9_o.png?w=680\")
Prolific investment firm Naspers is making a push into bitcoin and financial services after it backed Philippines-based startup Coins.ph to the tune of $5 million. Coins is focused on offering financial services for the unbanked in the Philippines and Thailand. It uses the blockchain\u00a0as its underlying technology to facilitate transfers and remittances. It announced the new funding —… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
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