Payment infrastructure startup Xendit announced that it ended the year as a Southeast Asian unicorn after securing $150-million in Series C funding, making it one of 35 unicorns in the region with a current valuation of $1-billion. The company also reported exponential growth and has launched more payment channels on its first year of operation in the Philippines.
Xendit has grown 25% month on month, with a 200% increase in total payments volume year on year. It has processed more than two-million debit transactions worth $10-billion from more than 350,000 linked bank accounts in less than a year.
The Xendit Philippines team has grown tenfold, and aims to hire more specialized workers such as product specialists and engineers to cater to the growing need for fast, simple and secure digital transactions.
“We are on track with our goal of creating a seamless digital infrastructure for the Philippines. Many have embraced the benefits of cashless payments and we expect continued demand even after the pandemic. When this is combined with regulators being open to innovation and the Philippine economy on the cusp of hypergrowth, digital transformation will happen sooner rather than later,” says Yang Yang Zhang, managing director at Xendit Philippines.
On its first year of operation, Xendit achieved a series of firsts in the Philippines. A month after its launching, Xendit became the first Philippine payment gateway to offer all three of the top e-wallet – GCash, GrabPay, and PayMaya.
The company is also the first to launch a Direct Debt solution in partnership with the country’s top banks, including Bank of the Philippine Islands, UnionBank, Banco de Oro, and Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation. It is also the first to provide Buy Now, Pay Later solution with BillEase.
In August, Xendit partnered and placed strategic investment in DragonPlay, a pioneer Filipino financial technology company that enables businesses to accept digital payments. The partnership is anchored on a shared mission of empowering Philippine SMEs through secure and cost-effective digital payment methods. A few months later, it also partnered with the global software-as-a-service (SaaS) e-commerce platform ECWID by Lightspeed.
Xendit also aims to empower businesses of all sizes to send and accept payments. It launched the Level Up Grant, a campaign built specifically for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which eliminates cost barriers by waiving two months of transaction fees across all channels.
Meanwhile, to expand its reach and make its payment infrastructure available to more entrepreneurs in the country and in other regional markets, Xendit is set to unveil new business solutions in 2022 to contribute to the growth of the e-commerce industry.
Xendit has xenCapital, a lending solution with flexible financing options which will serve as an alternative to traditional financial institutions, grounded on simplicity, speed, and service. The startup promises minimal requirements so businesses can quickly scale.
The other is Illuma, a value-added service that lets businesses leverage data and strengthen business processes. This will grant SMEs the ability to validate contacts, accounts, and identity documents, and screen for fraud.
Lastly, Xendit has xenRemit which aims to accelerate innovation within the remittance field.
“We are happy with the warm welcome that we received from our customers in our first year of operations in the Philippines, but what truly excites us is our role in shaping the country’s digital infrastructure. We aim to continue innovating and expanding our services so we can help more businesses and more Filipinos,” shares Christian Reyes, chief operating officer at Xendit Philippines.
