Philippine digital and financial services firm Voyager Innovations has raised $167 million for its expansion programme, including a venture into digital banking, its listed and largest shareholder said on Monday.

Shareholders PLDT Inc, private equity firm KKR & Co Inc and Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd participated in the funding round, PLDT said in a disclosure.

Voyager, which serves 38 million Filipinos through its consumer platforms that include e-wallet and digital payments, welcomed a unit of the World Bank Group's International Finance Corp (IFC) as a new investor.

The fintech firm said it applied for a digital banking license with the Philippine central bank, which has so far granted three firms an approval to operate.

Only a third of Filipinos have a formal bank account, among the lowest in Asia, giving fintech firms an attractive leeway for growth.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Martin Petty)

Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/philippine-fintech-firm-raises-167-mln-kkr-tencent-2021-06-28/