The local startup ecosystem in the Philippines continues to expand even as funding activities have gone down, said Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan John Uy.
Deal volume and value in the Philippines plunged to an over two-year low in Q3 of this year, according to data compiled by DealStreetAsia.
Uy said the ecosystem in the country remains promising and now consists of more than 1,100 startups, 60 incubators and accelerators, 50 venture capitalists, and more than 200 co-working spaces nationwide.
The value of the country’s startup ecosystem jumped from $1.03 billion from the second half of 2018 to 2020 to $3.5 billion from the second half of 2020 to 2022, according to data cited by the DICT secretary.
“Our local startups have also grown in scale to cater to various sectors such as e-commerce, fintech, service platforms, health tech, and logistics, representing the diverse talents and innovative spirit of our nation’s technopreneurs,” Uy said at the opening of the two-day “Geeks On A Beach” (GOAB) international tech conference, on Panglao Island, Bohol.
Early this week, online-to-offline (O2O) parenting platform edamama closed its Series A+ financing, bringing the total funds raised by the company so far to $35 million.
The fresh investment was led by the Ayala Corporation Technology Innovation Venture (ACTIVE) Fund, the largest venture capital fund in the Philippines, which is managed by Kickstart Ventures and backed by Ayala Corporation (AC) and its subsidiaries.
As part of the Philippine government’s efforts to support the startups in the Philippines, Uy said the DICT is implementing the Digital Startup Development and Acceleration Program (DSDAP), which encompasses mapping initiatives, awareness activities, acceleration projects, funding, and inter-agency collaboration.
“We recognise that the success of our ICT ecosystem hinges on collaboration… the private sector plays a crucial role in ensuring the vitality of our startup ecosystem,” the DICT head added.
GOAB, which gathers at least 500 startups and VC investors in the island town of Panglao in Bohol Province, is the culmination event of the Philippine Startup Week.
No outright TikTok ban in the Philippines
At the sidelines of the tech conference, Uy said the government does not see any reason for an outright ban on China’s TikTok, but said the DICT is working with all the social media platforms to come up with better online safety measures.
Uy’s comment comes as Nepal earlier said it would ban China’s TikTok because the app disturbs social harmony and goodwill. In October, Vietnam also found TikTok guilty of violating the country’s laws on information security, child protection, and e-commerce.
Indonesia also banned online shopping on social media platforms including TikTok, to protect smaller brick-and-mortar merchants and ensure the protection of users’ data.
“Clearly, there are contents that are harmful but there are certain gray areas that need to be discussed more,” he stressed. “We can’t just ban anything because we don’t like it or because there’s so much rumour”.
Uy said the social media platforms will be afforded due process and the government will exercise its best judgment when deciding to ban any of these platforms.
As of June 2023, TikTok had more than 42.8 million users in the Philippines, according to market research and strategy consulting firm OOSGA.