BayaniPay secures $4.5M funds to expand banking services to Filipino American immigrants

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 24) — Homegrown financial technology firm BayaniPay has raised $4.5 million in fresh funds to finance its target of grabbing 20% of the Filipino American remittance market.

The company on Thursday said it received seed funding from East West Bank, Wavemaker Partners, and Talino Venture Labs.

The multimillion-dollar seed round came as BayaniPay pursued to challenge existing traditional remittance centers in the US scene, offering Filipino American customers banking services, including a checking account insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

To accelerate its expansion, BayaniPay sealed a deal with Sy-led BDO Unibank to lead the digital remittance industry with "zero fees and market-leading exchange rates."

BayaniPay CEO Winston Damarillo was upbeat the company could witness "exponential growth" by 2023 amid the rising population of the Filipino American community in the US, accounting for $146 billion of the Asian American market in the economic powerhouse.

Currently, BayaniPay has more than 7,000 customers.

"The fresh capital from East West Bank and Wavemaker Partners will allow BayaniPay to expand the technology team as the company scales its product lineup and expands into more geographies," said Damarillo.