Philippines-based telecommunications company Globe Telecom has committed $50m to its incubator, Kickstart Ventures, Tech in Asia has reported.
Globe claims the investment is the largest commitment to funding early-stage startups yet made by a Philippines-based corporate. Kickstart will invest the cash across the world, targeting companies with local and global potential.
Kickstart was originally launched in 2012 with $2.4m of capital and has since funded 20 startups. It also formed a partnership with Australia-based incubator Pollenizer in 2013.
The additional funding will allow the unit to invest larger sums at series A stage and later, Globe CEO Ernest Cu said in a statement. It will target digital communications and telecoms technology startups, as well as media, data analytics, internet of things, fintech, health, education, IT security, and energy and spectral efficiency technology developers.
Cu said: “In the Philippines, I have yet to see a startup break-through in a big way, not because of lack of talent but because the whole sector is devoid of support. Large tech incumbents operate well here, but startups struggle.
“Globe has been finding and working with smaller, innovative startups to boost the quality of its customer experience, with very good results. So good that they get acquired by large global companies at respectably higher valuations. Seeing this potential, we believe that Kickstart can use the VC fund to help our startup partners to scale even faster via an equity investment.”