FundingRounds, leads & terms
Philippine Series A funding falls 98% in 2026 as Series B jumps 795%, while GCash parent Mynt completes record ₱60.9B IPO
Philippine startup capital is pooling in revenue-stage Series B rounds while Series A value has nearly vanished, according to Tracxn and Gobi Partners data. GCash parent Mynt's record ₱60.9B listing shows public markets can absorb large exits but does little for early-stage founders.
From the e27 article of November 12, 2026 and cited sources: Philippine startup funding has split into two ends. [1] [2]
SOURCES[1] e27: Manila has a Series B boom and a Series A funeral… e27.co[2] e27: One founder, many agents e27.co
AT Pulse research deskPublished · Updated · 5 min read · AI-assisted analysisAI-assisted, not human-edited. Methodology Corrections Who owns this site
- Original source
- e27 article, independent perspective
- Brief by
- AT Pulse research desk AI-assisted; publisher and contact on the desk page
- When
- November 12, 2026 article published
- Covered
- Nov 12 edition
- Evidence
- 14 sources across 11 sites
- 1e27: Manila has a Series B boom and a Series A funeral…e27.co
- 2e27: One founder, many agentse27.co
- 3TechTimes: GCash completes largest-ever IPOtechtimes.com
- 4PSE: PSE clears Mynt, Inc. for IPOpse.com.ph
- 5Yahoo Finance/EPI: Mynt sets IPO pricefinance.yahoo.com
- 6Daily Tribune: Philippines trails with 1.1% sharetribune.net.ph
Reach: not measured yet
Philippine startup funding has split into two ends. Grants and incubator money sit at one end and revenue-stage Series B+ rounds at the other, with little in between. Series A deal value is down about 98% so far in 2026. Series B value is up 795% and now makes up roughly three-quarters of capital deployed. [1] [2]
Mynt priced its IPO at ₱6.60 per share and raised ₱60.9B including the overallotment. That beat Monde Nissin's ₱55.89B as the largest offering in PSE history. The market cap at the offer price was about $7B. Most of the shares sold were existing shares (6.42B of 8.03B), so most of the cash went to selling shareholders rather than the company. [3] [4] [5] [7] [10]
Different datasets give opposite pictures of 2026. Tracxn/Gobi year-to-date figures show total deal value down 64.5% and deal count down 8.1%. Kickstart/DealStreetAsia data show H1 2026 funding up from $33M to $81M. That H1 total came from only seven deals, about 1.1% of Southeast Asia's $7.25B, and one round (Salmon) made up roughly 62% of it. [2] [6] [8] [9] [14]
The Gobi report says founders can use AI-heavy, one-person setups to cut pre-Series A spending to roughly $5K–$20K. e27 cautions that this may only make the wait for funding cheaper, without closing the gap to Series B investors' revenue expectations. [2]
Series B investors expect revenue that most pre-A companies lack the money to build, and Philippine deal counts are small.
Read the full assessment
Implication: founders face a longer gap between incubation and growth capital, and a big public exit does not automatically flow back to early-stage funds.
Writing the dossier now; the sources are checked.
Executive brief
Series A deal value in the Philippines is reported to be down 98% so far in 2026, while Series B value is up 795% and now makes up about three-quarters of capital deployed (e27). That gap sits next to Mynt (GCash)'s ₱60.9B IPO, the largest in the history of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) (TechTimes). The headline e27 story argues that a large exit doesn't help founders who need $2–5M to prove they can scale. The reviewed sources consist of the feed excerpt and other coverage. They don't include the full text.
What changed and event timeline
PSE clears Mynt
The exchange approved up to 8.03B shares at a maximum of ₱10, with listing set for October 20. The PSE called it the largest offering in its history ().
Price set at ₱6.60
The base deal was about ₱53B, or ₱60.9B with the overallotment. Bookrunners included Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and UBS (). The PSE notice had given October 1 as the pricing date.
Kickstart report shows thin Philippine deal flow
The Philippines took 1.1% of Southeast Asia's $7.25B in H1 2026 funding, from only seven deals ().
Mynt debuts as GCASH
Market capitalization at the offer price was ₱441.5B (about $7B). Reports of the first-day close differ: ₱6.60 or ₱6.74 (;).
e27 reports the Series A collapse
Citing Tracxn and Gobi Partners data, e27 reported Series A value down 98% and Series B up 795% ().
e27 publishes the barbell argument
It describes money concentrated at the grant/incubator end and at the revenue-stage Series B+ end, with the middle hollowed out ().
Capabilities and access
- The IPO: 8.03B shares at ₱6.60 (1.61B primary, 6.42B secondary), plus up to 1.2B secondary overallotment shares (PSE; TechTimes). Retail investors could buy through GStocks inside GCash.
- Use of primary proceeds (company-stated): about 60% for credit products (lending, buy-now-pay-later, AI credit scoring), 20% for insurance and wealth products, and the rest for infrastructure and expansion (TechTimes).
Technical analysis for researchers and developers
The "funeral" claim depends on which dataset you use:
Read the full section
The "funeral" claim depends on which dataset you use:
- Tracxn/Gobi (via e27): year-to-date figures with stage-level splits. They show total Philippine deal value down 64.5% and deal count down 8.1% (e27).
- Kickstart/DealStreetAsia: half-year equity deals. Philippine funding more than doubled, from $33M in H2 2025 to $81M in H1 2026 (Startup.ph).
- With so few deals, one round swings the totals. Salmon alone was about 62% of H1 value (search summary of national data).
- DealStreetAsia's Andi Haswidi has said deal volume is a better gauge than value (Daily Tribune).
Claims and evidence
- Record IPO size (₱60.9B, beating Monde Nissin's ₱55.89B): an exchange and underwriting figure, reported independently by several outlets (BusinessWorld; PSE).
- About $7B valuation: market cap at the offer price, so it is market-set rather than self-reported (FinTech Futures).
- 94M GCash users: self-reported by the company (Yahoo/EPI).
Read the full section
- Record IPO size (₱60.9B, beating Monde Nissin's ₱55.89B): an exchange and underwriting figure, reported independently by several outlets (BusinessWorld; PSE).
- About $7B valuation: market cap at the offer price, so it is market-set rather than self-reported (FinTech Futures).
- 94M GCash users: self-reported by the company (Yahoo/EPI).
- −98% Series A / +795% Series B: data-vendor analysis, reported only through e27. No independent corroboration was found.
- Conflict of interest: Kickstart Ventures is the corporate VC arm of Globe, and Globe is Mynt's largest shareholder at about 34% (TechTimes). Gobi Partners, the source of the "Solo Horizons" report, is itself a VC investor.
Context and prior work
- Philippine funding lagged its Southeast Asian peers in 2025 too (BusinessWorld).
- Deals slowed in H2 2025 (Philstar).
- Across the region, 2026 funding was lopsided: about $16.5B, concentrated in a few months (e27).
Read the full section
- Philippine funding lagged its Southeast Asian peers in 2025 too (BusinessWorld).
- Deals slowed in H2 2025 (Philstar).
- Across the region, 2026 funding was lopsided: about $16.5B, concentrated in a few months (e27).
- Singapore took 94% of disclosed regional funding in the first nine months of 2026 (e27).
Limitations, safety and contested findings
- Opposite headlines: "funding doubled" (Insider PH) and "deal value fell 64.5%" both describe 2026. They cover different time windows and datasets.
- First-day close: reported as both flat (₱6.60) and up 2.1% (₱6.74).
- Pricing date: the PSE notice says October 1; EPI says October 5.
Read the full section
- Opposite headlines: "funding doubled" (Insider PH) and "deal value fell 64.5%" both describe 2026. They cover different time windows and datasets.
- First-day close: reported as both flat (₱6.60) and up 2.1% (₱6.74).
- Pricing date: the PSE notice says October 1; EPI says October 5.
- Retail-facing risks: most of the offering was secondary shares (6.42B of 8.03B), so most of the cash went to selling shareholders rather than the company. Retail investors were sold the shares through GCash, an app the company itself runs.
Business and practitioner implications
- Founders: Series B investors want revenue that pre-A companies haven't had the money to build.
- Investors: Mynt shows the domestic market can absorb a $1B listing.
- Fintech operators: a well-funded GCash moving into lending and insurance raises the bar for new competitors in those areas.
Read the full section
- Founders: Series B investors want revenue that pre-A companies haven't had the money to build. Capital-light, AI-heavy "one-person" models can cut pre-A spending to about $5K–$20K, according to the Gobi report. e27 warns this could just become "a more efficient waiting room" (e27).
- Investors: Mynt shows the domestic market can absorb a $1B listing. The recycled capital mostly goes to Globe, Ayala and Ant, not to early-stage funds.
- Fintech operators: a well-funded GCash moving into lending and insurance raises the bar for new competitors in those areas.