Philippine’s Mynt gets valuation boost at $5 billion with Ayala, MUFG funding

By Rishav Chatterjee

(Reuters) – Mynt, which operates the Philippine e-wallet brand and IPO-hopeful GCash, has more than doubled its valuation to $5 billion following investments from Ayala Corp and Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ (NYSE:) Financial, the companies said in separate statements on Friday.

Ayala Corp, one of the Philippines’ oldest conglomerate, said it has acquired an additional 8% stake in mobile financial services firm Mynt, also known as Globe Fintech Innovations, for 22.9 billion pesos ($393.07 million). This increases Ayala’s ownership in Mynt to 13%.

The Philippines is among the fastest-growing fintech markets in Southeast Asia, with a surge in adoption of digital services during the pandemic.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MUFG), Japan’s largest banking group, plans to invest $393 million in Mynt for an 8% stake.

MUFG has previously backed other Asia-Pacific startups and technology companies such as Grab and Akulaku.

“The Philippines has a high mobile phone and internet penetration, creating a solid foundation for the development of digital financial services,” MUFG said in a statement.

Mynt is a joint venture between Alibaba (NYSE:)’s Ant Group, Ayala and communications firm Globe Telecom (OTC:).

Globe Telecom owns around 35% of Mynt, while China’s Ant Group holds about 34% stake.

Mynt started to break-even in the second half of 2021, and Jefferies expects that it could already account for around 20% for Globe Telecom’s 2024 earnings.

Mynt’s “profitability is soaring” while expecting earnings to be close to $200 million in 2024, analysts have said.

Globe Telecom CEO Ernest Cu in a May interview said GCash may go public in the Philippines in 2025. Cu also chairs Mynt.

Mynt predominantly fights in the startup market with the Philippines’ only other unicorn Voyager, a fintech firm, which enjoys a valuation of more than $1 billion.

($1 = 58.2600 Philippine pesos)