Venture fund willing to back Philippine startups

MANILA, Philippines — Enterprise venture builder Talino Venture Labs is willing to contribute around $1 million to a venture fund the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is setting up to help bring startups to commercialization.

“We’re ready to invest up to $1 million,” Talino Venture Labs chief executive officer Winston Damarillo said.

He said when Talino invests in a startup, it usually gets about 30 to 100 percent equity.

“Some startups that are more mature have little dilution.  But really early stage startup, you’ll own more. Of our startups, we own somewhere between 30 to 100 percent. If (we own) 100 percent, it’s our idea and our money. If 30 percent, we are just an investor,” he said.

As the DTI has yet to come up with guidelines on how to go about the venture fund, Damarillo said he is  working and coordinating with the agency.

During the signing of the implementing rules and regulations for Republic Act 11337 or the Innovative Startup Act in November last year, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the agency, through its investment arm National Development Co. (NDC), intends to create a venture fund to invest in startups and help them go into commercialization.

The DTI estimates P250 million would be required to provide P5 million each to bring 50 startups to the next level and launch commercial operations.

As such, Lopez has said the government is looking to provide an initial P125 million for the venture fund, while the other half would be coming from the private sector.

For the venture fund, he said the DTI would be coming up with guidelines to determine how to select startups where NDC could invest in.

In addition, the guidelines would cover up to how much could be invested in a startup.

Signed into law in April last year, the Innovative Startup Act aims to implement a Philippine Startup Development Program which includes providing benefits and incentives for startups or any person or registered entity in the Philippines seeking to develop an innovative product, process or business model.

Talino partners with large corporations and industry leaders to build startups and develop technology to accelerate business growth and drive financial inclusion.

So far, Talino has built three inclusion tech startups. These are Saphron, which provides micro and modular insurance products to make insurance accessible to all; Asenso, which offers capital, integrated supply chain, market access, and  rewards and loyalty campaigns to micro, small and medium enterprises, as well as micro insurance to sari-sari stores and agripreneurs; and Unawa, which helps startups gain access to legal, regulatory and compliance services so they can focus on on their businesses.

Damarillo said Talino is building more startups with one focused on healthcare and another on food.