Tala Reaches 1 Million Users in Philippines Four Months After Launch

Tala says it is approaching 1 million wallet users in the Philippines after launching there in April.

The announcement by the money app for the underbanked Wednesday (Aug. 22) comes months after it reached 8 million customers, and is happening amid a worldwide increase in mobile wallet usage.

“The unprecedented adoption of Tala Wallet demonstrates just how valuable our platform has become to millions of people who need instant access to cash and the ability to manage their money in real time every day,” Jori Pearsall, Tala’s chief business officer, said in a news release provided to PYMNTS. 

“Giving people safe, flexible, and seamless access to capital is a game changer for those striving to invest in their families and achieve their financial goals.”

According to the release, Tala’s wallet lets customers in the company’s core markets — Kenya, India, Mexico, and the Philippines — borrow and store money, pay bills, and send and receive cash from their phones, saving them hours of traveling to and waiting at banks.

Tala was founded in Nairobi in 2014 by CEO Shivani Siroya, aimed at serving users in markets in which “the financial system is fundamentally broken for millions of people,” as the founder said in 2021.

As PYMNTS reported in June, Tala added 800,000 new customers in the first six months of 2023, a 114% growth over the first half of last year.

The company says its platform’s users are accessing more than 3 million loans per day and $100 million in origination every month, with Tala processing nearly $200 million in transactions each month.

Tala said Wednesday it will add more features to its wallet in the weeks ahead and plans to introduce the offering to additional markets in the near future.

This growth is happening as mobile wallet use continues to rise around the globe. As reported here in June, roughly 18% of customers surveyed by PYMNTS paid for their most recent physical purchase using a mobile device, up more than 0.5% in the third quarter of last year from the previous quarter. 

The biggest increase in in-store digital wallet use happened in the United Kingdom, with the share of in-store shoppers who paid with a mobile wallet jumping 549% year over year. Among mobile wallets, Apple Pay saw the most growth, at 397% between 2021 and 2022.