E-wallets are quickly gaining reputation within the Philippines, overtaking bank cards, which have a penetration rate of under 10%. Fintech startup Plentina is leveraging that pattern with purchase now, pay later (BNPL) installment loans that can be utilized and repaid by means of e-wallets.
The firm introduced in the present day it has closed a $2.2 million seed round, co-led by former Tableau govt and ClearGraph chief govt officer Andrew Vigneault, Unpopular Ventures and DV Collective. Other contributors included JG Digital Equity Ventures (JGDEV), Amino Capital, Canaan Partners Scout Fund and Ignite Impact Fund.
Its final funding was $750,000 pre-seed round raised final yr from traders together with Techstars, Emergent Ventures and the 500 Startups Vietnam Fund. Plentina additionally participated within the Techstars Western Union and Stanford’s StartX accelerator packages.
Plentina launched within the Philippines in October 2020 and has been downloaded greater than 30,000 occasions. Its service provider companions embrace 7-Eleven Philippines and Smart Communications, a telecom supplier with greater than 70 million pay as you go subscribers. The firm will use its seed round to onboard extra service provider companions within the Philippines earlier than increasing in Southeast Asia and different areas.
Plentina makes use of machine studying fashions to gauge the creditworthiness of mortgage candidates, drawing on founders Kevin Gabayan and Earl Valencia’s information science backgrounds. Gabayan was information science lead at Bump Technologies after which spent 5 years working at Google after it acquired the startup. Valencia’s expertise contains serving as managing director of digital transformation at Charles Schwab.
“We’re making BNPL work in emerging markets where few have credit scores and merchants can’t easily integrate technology,” Valencia, Plentina’s chief enterprise officer, instructed TechCrunch. In addition to different credit score scoring, the startup additionally focuses on making installment cost work with retailers’ legacy workflows, he stated.
So for, Plentina has generated 10 million credit score scores from different information sources, together with cellular information obtained with person permission and retail loyalty packages, and can proceed to develop its fashions as its service provider partnerships and buyer base grows. Customers who construct good credit score scores with Plentina can enhance their credit score limits and unlock extra gives.
Loans have a flat 5% service payment, with no curiosity. 7-Eleven and Smart Communications each supply 14 day loans, and Plentina will introduce extra dynamic mortgage phrases sooner or later, Valencia stated. Loans can be utilized to buy items in any respect of 7-Eleven’s 3000 shops within the Philippines and pay as you go cellular airtime with Smart Communications.
Other installment mortgage companies within the Philippines embrace BillEase, Tendopay and Cashalo. Valencia stated Plentina “aim[s] to be a customer’s financial service partner throughout their lifetime. We’re starting by offering closed-loop store credit for essentials purchases for consumers to easily establish their financial identity. As a customer’s financial wellness matures, we can graduate them into additional financial services.”
In a press assertion about his funding, Vigneault stated, “I’ve worked with many early stage fintech companies over the years. However, I’ve come across few founders who are as impressive as Kevin and Earl and have been able to achieve such levels of success with customers, channel partners, and product at such an early stage.”
