Tiếng Việt
Published March 31, 2023
Filipino fintech Advance continues to scale up with regional expansion and US$16M in new funding
Do Ventures
Advance has successfully secured US$16 million in a pre-Series A funding led by Do Ventures out of Vietnam and Lendable, a technology-enabled investment and debt provider to fintechs in emerging markets. New investors Phoenix Holdings, Kaya Founders, Foxmont Capital, Oyster Ventures, and Crossocean Ventures, as well as existing investors Wavemaker Partners, Next Billion Ventures, Integra Partners, and Accion Venture Lab participated in the round. Along with the fresh funding, Advance announced that it has expanded into Vietnam with the acquisition of a counterpart platform there.
With Advance, employees may easily access a portion of their salaries by way of a flexible credit line through the Advance mobile app in as quickly as a few seconds, whenever needed. Users of Advance are also equipped with financial tools designed to vastly improve the different aspects of their financial journey. Advance has recently expanded its offering to include other credit solutions and financial wellness and education products from its business partners.
Since 2018, Advance has been providing salary advances and other financial services to underserved employees in the Philippines, where almost half of the population remains unbanked. In almost 5 years, the company has earned the trust of over 200 companies in the country, including major industry players like Sitel Philippines, Inspiro, Cebuana Lhuillier, and ePerformax.
With this latest raise, Advance will introduce more innovative financial products and offer its services to more partners in the Philippines and Vietnam.
Advance will now be catering to thousands of employees in Vietnam. Advance just acquired BravoHr, a Vietnam-based platform that provides digital solutions for employee engagement, benefits, and rewards. BravoHr’s key clients include some of the biggest global brands like McDonalds, L’oreal, and AstraZeneca.
"Advance has the potential to provide greater financial stability and security for workers across emerging economies via their tech-enabled on-demand credit platform. Given the similarities between the financial landscapes of Vietnam and the Philippines, we are positive that the team will be able to apply its playbook to Vietnam’s untapped market and help improve the financial well-being of millions of Vietnamese employees,” said Vy Le, Co-Founder and General Partner of Do Ventures.
"Advance has developed a viable product and shown proven traction in providing the underbanked working population access to credit. We are confident about the scalability of the business and are pleased to support its growth to promote employee welfare and income stability to workers in the Philippines and the wider Southeast Asia region,” Ruoyun Yang, Head of Asia at Lendable.
