Welcome to the “island frontier” of Asia
With the 100 millionth Filipino born in July 2014, the 2nd fastest growing economy in Asia after China, and a melting pot of cultures at the crossroads of South-East Asia, the US, and the Pacific, the Philippines Startup Scene is quite hot.
As we attended the 2nd edition of Geeks on a Beach, the top tech event of the archipelago, all attendees were almost surprised the ecosystem could have grown so fast in so little time. Most will admit than “two years ago, there was nothing here”.
Since then, investors (Kickstart, Ideaspace), angels, and even the government through the launch of the Negosyo Centers or a startup bill in the making, complete an already very active scene built by the community and a few high-level foreign founders, such as Bowei Gai (World Startup Wiki) or Ron Hose (Coins.ph).
On a broader scale, the Philippines will reach 145 million population by 2050, and should then be the 16th largest economy in the world.
With a lot of challenges, from infrastructure to education, and with already a lot of assets – a huge diaspora, an English speaking population, and the coveted title of Selfie capital of the world – the Philippines Startup Scene is poised to become very attractive in South-East Asia.
PROS
- 2nd fastest growing economy in Asia in 2013
- IT is the biggest export of the country
- At the crossroads of the Latin, American and Asian culture
- A leading place for innovation for emerging markets, from social enterprise to Bitcoins
- Extremely social media friendly country (selfie capital of the world)
- Huge diaspora of 12m people (out of 100m Filipinos overall), with $24bn remittances yearly
CONS
- A land of inequality: the top 40 families control 76% of the GDP
- High level of cronyism and corruption
- 25m people living with less than a dollar a day, no improvement on the poverty rate between 2006 and 2012
- Poor infrastructure (banking, energy, internet)
TOP STARTUPS IN PHILIPPINES
Coins.ph is the leading Bitcoin exchange in the Philippines (now also available in other markets in South-East Asia)
Kalibrr is an online job portal that aims to transform the way candidates find jobs and companies hire talent
MetroDeal is an online market that provides users with the best deals on the best things to do, see, eat, and buy in the user’s city
Morphlabs – a platform delivering cloud infrastructure to maximize productivity for network administrators and software developers
Lenddo is the world’s first online platform that helps users to build their creditworthiness and access local financial services
TOP PEOPLE TO KNOW IN PHILIPPINES
Ron Hose
CEO and Founder
Coins.ph
Now leading the bitcoin revolution for the unbanked in Philippines with Coins.ph
Tina Amper
Founder
TechTalks.ph
Startup ecosystem builder and community organizer. Founder of Techtalks.ph, a community of business, technology, and startup enthusiasts
Paul Rivera
CEO
Kalibrr
Co-founder and CEO of Kalibrr, the first Philippines startup to get accepted into Y Combinator
Christian Besler
Co-Founder
Manila Angels
Co-founder of Kickstart Ventures, Manila Angels and MobileMonday Manila
Earl Valencia
President and Co-Founder
IdeaSpace Foundation, Inc.
President and Co-Founder of the IdeaSpace Foundation, Smart Communications VP for Corp Dev and Innovation
Karl Satinitigan
Programs Director
Office of Senator Bam Aquino
Programs Director at the Office of Senator Bam Aquino, a social entrepreneur turned pro-digital politician
PHILIPPINES
| GDP (in billions USD): | 290 |
| GDP per capita (in USD): | 2,913 |
| Population: | 100,617,630 |
| Population in 2050 (est.): | 171,964,192 |
| Internet Penetration: | 41.1 % |
| Mobile Penetration: | 15 % |
| Banking Penetration: | 27 % |
| Credit Card Penetration: | 7 % |
