Franco Varona: Philippines’ Startup Boom, Global Diaspora Power & Why First Movers Win – E641
episode
BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech: Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand & Malaysia Startups, Founders & Venture Capital VC (English)
39 min
2 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 17 days ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the Philippines’ startup ecosystem and why is it now a top investment destination?
The Philippines oftentimes wasn't even in the top three investment destinations of Southeast Asia, despite having the second largest population. We started the pandemic with, you know, less than thirty percent of our of our population having a a digital wallet, whereas today it's it's almost like ninety nine percent of the adult population has a digital wallet, right? So we had this whole digitization of this country that happened in a very short period of time. In Now you mix that with actually the youngest population in Southeast Asia having a quickly rising middle class, right? By World Bank standards, the upper middle class has defined as somebody that the GDP per capita at about forty three hundred dollars.
Um per year. And the Philippines is at something like four thousand two hundred and ninety-five dollars. I mean it's like super close, right? Which means by World Bank standards, we are actually entering the upper middle class um globally.
Welcome to Brave. Learn from Southeast Asia's best tech leaders. Build the future, learn from our past, and stay human in between. No BS on Success. I'm Jeremy Al, Venture Capitalist, Sarah Founder, Harvard MBA, Science Fiction Nerd, and Dad of Two Daughters. Every week, we debate startup news, interview change makers, answer listener questions, and share personal insights. Join our movement of over forty thousand members and get transcripts, resources and community at www.bravesea.com Stay well and stay brave. Hey Franco, really
excited to have you on the show, to be our regular co-host. Hey Jeremy, thanks for having me, having me back actually. Really excited to to be here and be a co-host with you.
Well, I mean, first of all, our interviews have always been so incredible. And two, of course, is the Philippines is a rising hard market in Southeast Asia. And I think we just keep getting questions over and over again, which is like we need more in depth coverage of the Philippines as a market, both the good and the bad and the opportunities. And I was like, I think there's no better person than Franco to speak about this uh for everybody.
Yeah, I mean I'm I'm honestly I'm very excited to ta talk to b uh to you about the Philippines. Um I do think uh it is yet to be fully discovered. Um and I think there's so much that we can uh you know we can uncover together uh about the country. Um of course I have a team here of of fourteen people. We're very focused on the Philippines. So there's I th a lot of really cool things that we could do and we can talk about moving forward.
Yeah. And Franco, I'll love to
this Cha, could you just introduce yourself? Yeah, of course. My name is Franco Verona. I am the managing partner of Foxbond Capital Partners, uh, which is a uh a fund focused on the Philippines. Uh today we have three funds and we have invested uh forty-five different times in this country. Fund one was vintage twenty nineteen, fund two was vintage twenty twenty-one. Um between both of those funds we made forty three investments. And fund three, we just actually announced our first close just about a month and a half ago uh of about thirty million uh of thirty million dollars. And we've already made two investments there as well. So I'm excited to share some announcements with you uh today about those.
Yeah. And Franco, I just wanna say, you know, you are also well positioned because uh, you know, I think you've uh recently announced your first close for your newest fund. Uh so congratulations on really hitting that milestone in a very tough fundraising market for the region and globally. And I just wanna say like that is uh truly a feather in your hat for at least getting to that big milestone.
Thank you. I mean, it wasn't easy. I mean I you know, I think I I I I would be remiss to say that it was a very easy fundraise. Um I think everybody in in in Southeast Asia has really had a tough time recently. We were very lucky, I think I told you this offline, but we were very lucky to have our anchor investor come in quite early, the Dutch Good Growth Fund.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the Philippines’ startup ecosystem and why is it now a top investment destination?
0:00–5:38
2
How did Foxmont Capital build three funds and achieve 45 investments since 2019?
5:38–10:36
3
Why has digital wallet adoption jumped from 30% to 99% and what does that mean for investors?
10:36–14:37
4
How does the Filipino diaspora and remittances fuel startup growth and talent return?
14:37–19:46
5
What gives first‑movers such a lasting advantage in the Philippine market?
19:46–25:08
6
How are affordable health and fitness solutions (e.g., BeFit gyms, women’s clinics) reshaping consumer spending?
25:08–29:15
7
What role is the Philippine government playing in supporting innovation and easing business registration?
29:15–34:24
8
What are the biggest takeaways for founders looking to expand into the Philippines?
34:24–39:47
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech: Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand & Malaysia Startups, Founders & Venture Capital VC (English)
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