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Technology

Sentro from UBX means no business gets left behind

UBX Head of SME Ventures Bjorn Pardo says Sentro wants to help MSMEs build their brands. Image credit: UBX
UBX Head of SME Ventures Bjorn Pardo says Sentro wants to help MSMEs build their brands. Image credit: UBX

Launched last year just as the pandemic was wreaking havoc on Philippine businesses, Sentro, the free online shop builder from UBX, has been helping micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) survive and adapt to the new normal.

“We wanted to provide MSMEs the capability to set up their own online shop that they can call their own. We want Sentro to be accessible to everyone starting an online business, which is why we made sure that using our platform would require little to no knowledge in tech and make it easy for even the non-techiest of individuals. In just eight months, the team was able to launch Sentro to the public during the first few weeks of the pandemic and the launch could not have been more timely as it was made available to MSMEs when they needed it most,” UBX Head of SME Ventures Bjorn Pardo told Digital Life Asia.

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4 Min Reading
Technology

Indonesian fintech Xendit raises US$64.6M Series B

Indonesian fintech Xendit, which recently launched its Philippine operations, has raised US$64.6 million in a Series B round led by Accel, with added support from YCombinator. Image credit: Screenshot of Xendit site
Image credit: Screenshot of Xendit site

Indonesian fintech Xendit, which recently launched its Philippine operations, has raised US$64.6 million in a Series B round led by Accel, with added support from Y Combinator. Xendit is the first Indonesian company to go through Y Combinator’s accelerator program and was named one of Y Combinator’s top 100 companies of 2021.

“Southeast Asia is a massively complex region, with Indonesia having 17,000 different islands alone — not to mention the region’s regulatory and technological challenges. Trying to build the businesses of tomorrow on yesterday’s infrastructure is holding Southeast Asia’s businesses back. This latest investment will enable Xendit to scale our digital payments infrastructure quickly and provide millions of small and medium-sized businesses across Southeast Asia with an on-ramp to the digital economy,” said Xendit CEO and Co-Founder Moses Lo in a press statement.

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4 Min Reading
Technology

UNO: AI-first digital bank eyes pilot launch in PH

Image credit: Screenshot of UNO site

An AI-first approach to digital banking is what UNO from Singapore-based DigiBankASIA is promising as it works with regulators for the pilot launch in the Philippines. The Singapore fintech has partnered with The Netherlands-headquartered IT consulting and digital technology company Xebia for the launch of what it touts as Asia’s first full-spectrum digital bank, with the brand names UNO and UNObank.

“We have found a high-tech engineering partner in Xebia whose approach aligns well with UNObank’s objective of a highly personalized, AI-first, fully composable, cloud-native, full stack digital bank,” said UNO CEO and Co-Founder Manish Bhai in a press statement.

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3 Min Reading
A Life Less Analog, Technology

Digital dinosaurs: IBM PH head on how to deal with them

Technology column header

Some dinosaurs evolved into birds, but human dinosaurs are unwilling or unable to embrace digital. So how do we deal with digital dinosaurs?

“First of all, I think we shouldn’t force them. They will move when they see others move. In the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was almost a freeze for the dinosaurs. But they will realize that if you go on your current course, then it will not be sustainable,” said IBM Philippines President and Country General Manager Aileen Judan-Jiao in response to my question.

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4 Min Reading
Technology

Just Xendit: Indonesian fintech startup expands to PH

Xendit Philippines Managing Director Yang Yang Zhang aims to help Philippine businesses in their digital transformation journey. Image credit: Xendit

Will more Filipinos embrace digital payments and learn to just Xendit? That’s the goal of the Indonesian financial technology startup, which today announced it is expanding its operations in the Philippines.

“While we see increasing demand for digital transactions, we understand that many businesses in the Philippines have not yet fully embraced the digitalization journey. Xendit is unique because we build deeply into each local market and culture, allowing us to work hand-in-hand with both traditional and startup businesses to innovate together along their digital transformation journey. This is especially important now, as so much of the Philippines continues to rely on transacting online for essential payments and purchases,” said Xendit Philippines Managing Director Yang Yang Zhang.

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4 Min Reading
Technology

Bonds.PH app makes bond investing easy for unbanked

Union Bank of the Philippines President and CEO Edwin R. Bautista says the Bonds.PH mobile app will benefit every Filipino.
Union Bank of the Philippines President and CEO Edwin R. Bautista says the Bonds.PH mobile app will benefit every Filipino.

Have you ever thought of investing in retail treasury bonds? Now the Bonds.PH mobile app makes it easy for every Filipino, even the unbanked, to do so for as low as US$100.

The Philippine Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) is the first in Asia to launch an app for the distribution of retail treasury bonds enabled by Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT).

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4 Min Reading
A Life Less Analog, Technology

BSP chief: 50% of retail payments to be digital by 2023

Technology column header

The Philippines has embraced the digital imperative, according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno. In line with this, at least 50 percent of the country’s retail payments will already shift to digital by 2023.

“There is no arguing that the new economy is digital. Our aspirations for a more inclusive and prosperous post-COVID world necessitate putting in place the critical pillars of a digital economy, including robust digital infrastructure, digital skills, e-government, digital ID, and an enabling legal/regulatory framework. All these have given new urgency to BSP’s longstanding financial inclusion and digital transformation agenda for the financial sector,” said Diokno.

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2 Min Reading