Lista cofounders Aaron Villegas and Khriz Lim.
Courtesy of Lista
Philippine fintech startup Lista has raised about $5.1 million in Series A funding led by Singapore-based Openspace Ventures, an early backer of Indonesia's Gojek and 30 Under 30 Asia honoree Rexy Josh Dorado's Manila-based social media site Kumu.
The round included existing investors 1982 Ventures, East Ventures (whose portfolio includes Southeast Asian online travel giant Traveloka, Indonesian fintech unicorn Xendit and Indonesian e-commerce company Tokopedia—which merged with Gojek last year to form GoTo Group) and Saison Capital, the venture capital arm of Japanese credit card company Credit Saison. Kumu cofounders Dorado and Roland Ros, among others, joined the round as angel investors.
“We are grateful for the trust these investors have given, not just in us, but in the vast potential of the rapidly developing fintech industry in the Philippines," Aaron Villegas, cofounder and CEO of Lista, said in a statement. In February, PayMongo, another Philippine fintech startup, raised $31 million in Series B funding from investors including Tinder cofounder Justin Mateen’s JAM Fund and Philippine venture capital firms ICCP SBI Venture Partners and Kaya Founders, which is led by Lisa Gokongwei, a member of the billionaire family that controls the JG Summit conglomerate.
"We continue to grow organically at a very accelerated pace, but we also seek out opportunities beyond what we are doing. We have a very aggressive pipeline," added Villegas.
Villegas cofounded Lista with Khriz Lim in September 2021. The startup says it has had more than 1 million downloads since its launch.
Lista said the fresh funds will be used to expand beyond business management tools and develop products specific to personal finances for individual users. “About 30% of our user base are Filipinos who do not have any business but want to take charge of their personal finance," said Lim. "They monitor their salary, bills payment, and even savings using Lista. We believe this is a category that holds a lot of growth potential for us.”
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