MUFG to invest USD 393m for 8% of Globe Fintech Innovations

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and its consolidated subsidiary, MUFG Bank today announced that MUFG Bank will invest USD 393 million in Globe Fintech Innovations (“Mynt”), the #1 finance super app and digital cashless ecosystem in the Philippines.

This latest deal pushed Mynt’s valuation to USD 5 billion, more than doubling its $2 billion valuation from the last funding round in 2021. As of 2023, Mynt recorded PHP 6.7 billion of net income.

Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, AC Ventures Holdings, Inc. (“ACV”), Ayala will increase its investments in Mynt by acquiring an additional 8% stake in the Company. At the same time, MUFG, through its consolidated subsidiary, MUFG Bank, Ltd. will acquire an 8% stake after entering into binding agreements to invest in Mynt.

In the Asia-Pacific, which MUFG considers its second home market, there is an accelerating trend of digital financial service providers leveraging the latest technology developments to offer financial services to unbanked or underbanked consumers and SMEs. To capture growth in this area, MUFG has been continuously investing in the region’s leading digital start-ups and tech firms, starting with Grab in 2020, followed by Home Credit in November 2022, Akulaku in December 2022, the establishment of the Garuda Fund in January 2023, and investments in DMI Finance in April 2023 and Ascend Money in June 2024. MUFG has also launched the “MUFG Openly-connected Digital Ecosystem” (MODE), an initiative to form a digital ecosystem aimed at knowledge sharing and value-increasing activities among companies MUFG invests in.

While there are underbanked and unbanked people in the Philippines who do not have sufficient access conventional financial services, the country has a high mobile phone and internet penetration, creating a solid foundation for the development of digital financial services. Backed by the country’s leading mobile telco operator, Globe Telecom, which is part of the Ayala Group, one of the Philippines’ largest conglomerates, Mynt is a leading company in digital financial services, providing the GCash e-wallet which has been used by 8 in 10 Filipinos. With a vison of the company to accelerate financial inclusion in the Philippines, the service has become an essential infrastructure for payments and settlements in the daily lives of people in the Philippines. Mynt is also expanding its digital lending business by leveraging the data from its e-wallet customer base.

Through this strategic investment in Mynt, a leader in digital finance in the Philippines, MUFG aims to further capture the Asia-Pacific region’s growth. By Mynt having become part of consumers’ daily lives through a variety of online and offline channels, MUFG seeks to use this investment to serve a broader customer base and contribute to financial inclusion. Furthermore, by welcoming Mynt as a new core member of MODE, MUFG aims to deepen its accumulation of digital technology related knowledge and pursue business collaboration opportunities with Mynt’s strategic shareholders, including the Ayala Group.

Following its investment into Ascend Money in Thailand in June, MUFG will further strengthen its platform in Asia through this strategic investment in Mynt and expand MUFG’s franchise value over the medium to long term.

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