Venteny raises $2.3M led by SBI to offer perks and employee loans in the Philippines

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Image credit: Venteny

See the original story in Japanese.

The Philippines-based Venteny, the startup offering employee benefits and loan services for companies, announced today that it has raised $2.3 million in a series A round from SBI Investment, SV-FINTECH Fund (jointly run by Tokyo-based web service giant Voyage Group and Silicon Valley-based VC firm SV Frontier), angel investors such as Makoto Takano and Mamoru Taniya in addition to an unnamed Singaporean firm. This follows their seed round back in February when they secured an undisclosed amount from KK Fund and Ocean Capital.

Incorporated in Singapore, Venteny has been offering an outsourced perks service for companies in the Philippines since April of 2015. Employees of the companies subscribing to the service can receive rewards or discounts at 500 locations such as retail shops and other merchants. The company also offers these employees with pay-day loans.

In Southeast Asian countries, people tend to need funds all of a sudden for their child’s entry into higher education or their family member’s medical treatment because they are less familiar with insurance for educational endowment or health care. Since employees in companies have few access to loans and other financial services for such a situation, they tend to change jobs on the grounds that their wages are insufficient rather than other reasons like unmatched aptitude or low motivation for their position.

Venteny founder and CEO Junichiro Waide presents his service onstage at FIBC 2017 in Tokyo.
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

 

Venteny offers the service to the Philippines’ leading banks, call centers and IT firms. Securing a partnership with CCAP (Contact Center Association of the Philippines) back in November, the company now can serve up to 800,000 call center representatives belonging to the institution. CCAP employs 800,000 out of all 2 million representatives working in the entire industry in the country.

Venteny wants to expand into other ASEAN markets while focusing on gaining additional values of financial services for company employees in the region.

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy