Tech startups helping Filipinos cope with quarantine

With the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon forcing us to stay home, these eight tech startups can be a godsend. More and more Filipinos have been embracing ecommerce over the years. Expect online services to become even more popular in the age of social distancing and quarantines due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Need to buy groceries? Have food delivered? Or have someone run errands, or make repairs? Find out how foodpanda, Gawin.ph, GrabFood/GrabExpress, LalaFood/Lalamove, Lazada (LazMart), MEDIFI, MetroMart, and MyKuya can make life a bit easier for you in these unusual times.

foodpanda

If you don’t have time to cook while working from home, why not have food delivered from your favorite restaurant via foodpanda. Just expect delays because of the unusual circumstances.

Gawin.ph

Gawin.ph lets you request help for a variety of home services. It will send you quotes, or assign you a vendor with fixed prices. You choose the vendor, and pay him or her directly after the job is finished.

GrabFood/GrabExpress

While you can’t book a ride with Grab in Luzon because of the enhanced community quarantine, GrabFood and GrabExpress are both available again. Have food delivered to your home via GrabFood, or send parcels using GrabExpress.

LalaFood/Lalamove

Instead of going out of your house to buy food, why not let the food come to you? Order food from a wide selection of restaurants via LalaFood. Or do you need to have packages delivered? Lalamove is here to help you.

Lazada (LazMart)

Lazada is one of the pioneers of ecommerce in the Philippines, and truly popularized online shopping among Filipinos by allowing cash on delivery. At the moment, only LazMart, Lazada’s groceries service, is running with logistics operations. So why line up at the supermarket when you can just have groceries delivered?

MEDIFI

MEDIFI is a telehealth platform that allows you to consult with a licensed doctor online for non-emergency health concerns. You can use the Consult Now option, or search for a doctor. Consult Now lets you input your health concern and immediately connects you to an available online doctor. The consultation rate is fixed at Php699.

MetroMart

MetroMart is an on-demand delivery service that lets you order from different stores. You can have groceries, medicine, pet care products, and more delivered to your home. Please note, however, this advisory on the MetroMart Facebook page for customers purchasing via the app.

Here is their advisory.

MyKuya

Whether it’s cleaning, shopping, bills payment, and more, just tell MyKuya what kind of help you need, where you are located, and how long the task will take. It then matches you with a trained Kuya or Ate, whom you can chat with to ensure the task is done properly. MyKuya has an Android app, but iPhone users will need to use the web app.

So there you go: eight tech startups that can help you cope with this enhanced community quarantine. Are there other tech startups in the Philippines that should be on this list? Let us know.

Stay safe, everyone.