BayaniPay, a financial service for global professionals, has raised $4.5 million in seed funding from East West Bank, Wavemaker Partners, and Talino Venture Labs.
BayaniPay signed an agreement earlier this year with East West Bank, the largest independent bank headquartered in Southern California, to provide Filipino American consumers with banking services, including an FDIC-insured checking account. East West Bank joins BDO Unibank, the Philippines’ largest bank, Asian Journal, a pioneer in the Asian American media business, and Seafood City, the largest Filipino-owned supermarket chain in the United States, on BayaniPay’s list of industry leaders.
This collaboration establishes BayaniPay as the first cross-border, digital financial service for the 4.2 million-strong Filipino American community, which accounts for $146 billion, or 14.4%, of the Asian American market in the United States: a segment previously underserved by traditional banks and other financial institutions.
BayaniPay makes it easy, quick, and cheap for people in the US and the Philippines to send and receive money across borders. Its feature-rich platform provides its consumers with a plethora of perks, including access to a digital bank account, a debit card that increases purchasing power, zero charge remittance, and market-leading FX rates for Filipino Americans sending money home.
Expanding global financial services powered by BDO Unibank
BayaniPay, in collaboration with BDO Unibank, will soon provide new financial alternatives to Filipinos in the United States.
BayaniPay is cooperating with BDO Unibank to allow its users in the United States to pay for services in the Philippines directly via paycode technologies. Local companies and services can easily supply Filipino American consumers with paycodes that they can use to pay bills, tuition and school fees, medical expenses, and even real estate.
BDO Unibank continues to develop ways to make global professionals’ lives easier by collaborating with BayaniPay.
BayaniPay rocked the digital remittance sector within its first three months on the market by delivering zero fees and market-leading exchange rates through BDO Unibank. Customers can open a digital bank account with a Visa debit card in the United States with East West Bank, enabling faster, frictionless cross-border payments and rewards on customer purchases.
Since announcing its expansion, BayaniPay has gained over 7,000 users and its work in disrupting the global banking landscape has caught the attention of many digital publications, including Forbes and American Banker.
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.
“We are excited about how quickly BayaniPay has grown since we first launched,” said BayaniPay CEO Winston Damarillo. “Our ongoing efforts are driven by the desire to eliminate the financial hardships of new immigrants and minority communities.”
