BayaniPay has completed a $4.5 million seed round to provide pioneering cross-border banking services to Asian American immigrants.
East West Bank, Wavemaker Partners, and Talino Venture Labs have invested $4.5 million in BayaniPay, a financial solution for worldwide professionals.
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| BayaniPay has completed a $4.5 million seed round to provide pioneering cross-border banking services to Asian American immigrants. |
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 facilitates simple, convenient, and low-cost cross-border financial services between the United States and the Philippines. 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, and zero charge remittance and market-leading FX rates for Filipino Americans sending money home.
BDO Unibank is extending worldwide financial services.
BayaniPay will soon provide more financial solutions to Filipinos in the United States in collaboration with BDO Unibank.
BayaniPay is cooperating with BDO Unibank to allow its users in the United States to pay directly for services in the Philippines via pay code technologies. Local companies and services can easily supply Filipino American consumers with pay codes 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.
Breaking through barriers in the digital financial world
BayaniPay rocked the digital remittance business in its first three months on the market by delivering zero fees and market-leading exchange rates through BDO Unibank. Through East West Bank, clients can open a digital bank account with a Visa debit card in the United States, enabling faster, frictionless cross-border payments and rewards on customer transactions.
“On behalf of East West Bank, I applaud BayaniPay’s progress in our digital banking technology to provide omnichannel banking as a service to underserved customers,” said Parker Shi, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of East West Bank. “This means that BayaniPay customers can enjoy the same quality of service, whether they’re banking with their mobile devices or transacting at their local East West Bank branch.”
BayaniPay has attracted over 7,000 members since announcing its expansion. Its work in disrupting the global financial sector has piqued the interest of several digital magazines, including Forbes and American Banker.
"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."
East West Bank and Wavemaker Partners' new funding will help BayaniPay to expand its technical team as it scales its product selection and expands into new countries.
“Streamlining cross border payment systems have become more urgent than ever as remittances grow in scale from overseas workers. Unfortunately, even in this day and age, existing remittance methods remain painful and expensive for the average remitter. BayaniPay is addressing this pain point with their suite of payment solutions that simplifies the various types of remittances. Whether the need is peer-to-peer, consumer-to-business or business-to-business, BayaniPay has created intuitive solutions to make this payment journey a simple and cost effective exercise,” said Eric Manlunas, Founder and Managing Partner of Wavemaker Partners.