Stripe Heads Up $12M Funding Round For Payments Processor Startup PayMongo

Filipino online payments platform PayMongo has come off a funding round with $12 million, according to a press release.

Stripe led the round, and existing investors Y Combinator and Global Founders Capital participated, alongside a new investor, Bedrock Capital.

PayMongo plans to use the new funding to speed up introducing new features and products, and to keep building its product, design and engineering teams, the press release says.

The Philippine digital transaction market has surged as of late, with a 42 percent jump in value between January and April this year.

The growth was driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing transition to more digital shopping and payments. By April, when the government had imposed lockdown measures, PayMongo saw thousands of retailers, including small entrepreneurs, restaurants and fast-food chains, signing up for its services.

The digital transactions are likely to meet the targets set by the country’s central bank.

With the new funding, PayMongo now has a total value of $15 million.

The company launched in 2019 and had a seed round then for $2.7 million — one of the largest amounts for a Philippines tech startup. The company was formed by CEO Francis Plaza, Chief Operating Officer Edwin Lacierda, Chief Technology Officer Jaimie Hing and Chief Growth Officer Luis Sia. Plaza said the impetus to form the company came from realizing how difficult it was to integrate payments into new online services.

Stripe APAC Business Lead Noah Pepper said the support for PayMongo came from its innovation during the previous several months of the pandemic.

“We’ve been impressed with the PayMongo team and the speed at which they’ve made digital payments more accessible for so many businesses across the Philippines,” he said, according to the release. “We fully support their vision to bring many more Filipino businesses online. Given the disruption caused by COVID-19, a service like theirs is simply vital for the country’s businesses and economic future.”