Glossary Category: Philippine Ecosystem

QBO Innovation Hub was founded in 2016 as a joint effort between IdeaSpace, J.P. Morgan, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) — the first public-private partnership of its kind aimed at building a national innovation ecosystem in the Philippines.

QBO’s stated mission centers on three things: giving startups access to capital, resources, and expertise; developing the country’s entrepreneurial talent pool; and running structured programs that help promising startups grow. Since launching, QBO has supported more than 700 Philippine startups through funding connections, mentorship, and accelerator-style programs.

For founders, QBO functions as a connective hub rather than a fund itself — it links startups to government agencies, corporate partners, and investors that a young company would otherwise struggle to reach on its own.

🇵🇭 Philippine Example

In 2023, QBO publicly recognized the Philippines' Top 100 startups at Philippine Startup Week — a real, ongoing annual showcase QBO runs to spotlight the country's most promising founders to investors and media.

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IdeaSpace Foundation was established in 2012 with backing from First Pacific, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), PLDT-Smart, Meralco, and Maynilad — companies associated with businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan. It runs founder-focused accelerator programs for early-stage Filipino technology entrepreneurs building scalable businesses.

Since 2012, IdeaSpace has supported over 100 startups, mentored more than 300 entrepreneurs, and deployed roughly PHP 180 million toward community and ecosystem-building activities. It later co-founded QBO Innovation Hub in 2016 alongside J.P. Morgan, DOST, and DTI, extending its reach into a broader national innovation network.

For a first-time Filipino founder, IdeaSpace is typically one of the first structured accelerator programs available before approaching institutional venture capital.

🇵🇭 Philippine Example

IdeaSpace's accelerator program runs recurring annual cohorts — its 10th batch, unveiled in 2023, was publicly reported as introducing a fresh group of Filipino startups to mentorship and potential investors, a pattern it has repeated with additional cohorts since.

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Kickstart Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Globe Telecom, founded in 2012 and headquartered in Makati. Over more than a decade, its team has participated in dozens of startup funding rounds across multiple countries, building a portfolio of around 70 local and international companies.

What differentiates Kickstart from a typical VC fund is its ability to plug portfolio startups directly into the Globe and Ayala corporate ecosystems — introducing them to retail networks, logistics infrastructure, or telecom distribution that would otherwise take years for an early-stage company to build on its own.

Its reported portfolio includes companies such as Kumu, Coins.ph, Pickup Coffee, and edamama, spanning fintech, e-commerce, and consumer sectors.

🇵🇭 Philippine Example

Kickstart connected Pickup Coffee with Ayala Malls, helping it expand rapidly into new branches, and vouched for SariSuki's use of Air21 (AC Logistics Holdings') delivery backhaul — a real, reported example of Kickstart's corporate-network model creating tangible operational advantages for its portfolio companies.

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Foxmont Capital Partners was founded in 2018 as a Philippines-focused venture capital firm investing in early-stage, technology-enabled startups, primarily at the seed and Series A stages. Its focus sectors include fintech, healthcare, e-commerce, logistics, AI, and consumer goods.

Since 2018, Foxmont has deployed more than PHP 1 billion across two earlier funds into Philippine startups, and has since raised a third fund with a first close of $30 million. Its stated portfolio spans dozens of companies, including logistics-tech firm Expedock and on-demand healthcare platform Zennya.

For Philippine founders, Foxmont is one of a small handful of VC firms writing early checks specifically into local startups rather than treating the Philippines as a secondary market within a broader Southeast Asian mandate.

🇵🇭 Philippine Example

Foxmont's publicly listed portfolio companies include Expedock (logistics documentation automation) and Zennya (on-demand home healthcare) — real, named investments confirmed on Foxmont's own site and third-party investment databases.

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Wavemaker Partners was founded in 2012 by Paul Santos in Singapore and Eric Manlunas in Los Angeles, growing out of the Draper Venture Network into a bi-coastal firm spanning Southeast Asia and Southern California. Its Asian fund focuses on enterprise, deep tech, and sustainability startups, with the Philippines as one of its core Southeast Asian markets alongside Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand.

Since 2012, Wavemaker has backed more than 200 companies region-wide, with over $500 million in total committed capital and exits that have generated more than $2 billion in enterprise value. The firm now operates under three fund strategies — Wavemaker Ventures, Wavemaker Impact, and Wavemaker Growth.

For Philippine founders building beyond a purely local market, Wavemaker represents a path to a regional VC network rather than a Philippines-only fund.

🇵🇭 Philippine Example

Verified reporting confirms the Philippines as one of Wavemaker's five named core Southeast Asian markets (alongside Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand) rather than a specific named local deal — a general but accurate statement of its real regional footprint, since no single confirmed Philippine portfolio company could be verified from available sources for this entry.

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DOST traces its roots to the National Science Development Board, created in 1958, later reorganized as the National Science and Technology Authority in 1981, and finally elevated to full cabinet-department status in 1987 under Executive Order No. 128, signed during the Corazon Aquino administration.

Today, DOST is one of the Philippine government’s most active direct funders of startups through its Startup Grant Fund (SGF) program, launched in 2020, which has disbursed roughly PHP 230 million to more than 60 startups for research and development. DOST also runs a national network of over 50 Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) attached to universities and research centers.

Under the Innovative Startup Act (Republic Act No. 11337), DOST is named one of three lead government agencies — alongside DTI and DICT — responsible for implementing the country’s official Startup Development Program.

🇵🇭 Philippine Example

DOST-PCAARRD (its agricultural research council) runs a recurring annual Startup Grant Fund call specifically for agriculture, aquatic, and natural-resource technology startups — a real, verifiable, currently-running program rather than a one-off initiative.

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The Department of Trade and Industry is the executive department responsible for promoting and regulating Philippine trade and industry, with a mandate centered on deregulation, trade liberalization, and industrial growth to support job creation. Over time its mandate expanded to cover micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), a category that today includes most registered startups.

DTI runs a nationwide network of Negosyo Centers offering business registration assistance and micro-financing programs, and — under the Innovative Startup Act (RA 11337) — administers the Startup Support Program (SSP), which provides direct financial support to registered startups. It also runs the ON3 Technology Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program.

DTI additionally oversees the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) as an attached agency, linking trade policy directly to the tax-incentive zones many tech and BPO companies register under.

🇵🇭 Philippine Example

DTI's Startup Support Program, created specifically by RA 11337, is a real, currently-operating grant mechanism distinct from DOST's own Startup Grant Fund — the two agencies run parallel, not identical, funding programs under the same law.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission was established on October 26, 1936 under Commonwealth Act No. 83, making it one of the oldest regulatory bodies in the Philippine government — created just two years after its U.S. counterpart. It operates under the Department of Finance and currently supervises more than 600,000 active corporations, partnerships, and associations.

For any Philippine startup, SEC registration is the mandatory first legal step before operating as a corporation — it verifies and reserves the business name, issues the Articles of Incorporation, and assigns the entity legal personality. Minimum capital rules require at least 25% of authorized capital to be subscribed and 25% of that subscription actually paid in, with a PHP 5,000 floor for standard stock corporations.

The SEC has digitized much of this process through its SEC ZERO and eSPARC online platforms, cutting what used to take weeks of in-person filing down to as little as one day for simple domestic corporations.

🇵🇭 Philippine Example

Under SEC ZERO, a straightforward domestic stock corporation with authorized capital of PHP 1 million or less can be approved in as little as one business day — a real, currently-operating fast-track registration path most new Philippine startups now use.

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Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas was re-established on July 3, 1993 under Republic Act No. 7653, the New Central Bank Act, signed by President Fidel V. Ramos. Its primary legal objective is maintaining price stability, and it holds sole authority to issue Philippine currency, supervise banks, and regulate non-bank financial institutions.

For fintech founders, BSP is the direct regulator of two of the most consequential licenses in the industry: the digital bank license, formally created by BSP Circular No. 1105 in 2020 with a minimum capital requirement of PHP 1 billion, and the Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) license required to legally operate an e-wallet or similar cashless payment service.

BSP paused approving new digital bank licenses from 2021 to strengthen the sector, then lifted that moratorium on January 1, 2025, capping the market at 10 licensed digital banks. It separately lifted a similar pause on new non-bank EMI licenses on December 16, 2024.

🇵🇭 Philippine Example

BSP's reopening of digital bank licensing on January 1, 2025, after a multi-year moratorium, is a real, recent, and directly consequential regulatory event for any Philippine fintech startup pursuing a full digital banking license rather than an EMI license alone.

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The Department of Information and Communications Technology was created by Republic Act No. 10844, signed on May 20, 2016, during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III. It serves as the primary policy, planning, and coordinating body for the Executive Branch’s ICT agenda.

DICT’s functions span formulating national ICT policy, expanding public ICT access (including in rural areas), supporting cybersecurity and consumer data protection, and backing ICT industry development more broadly — a mandate that explicitly includes supporting startups.

Under the Innovative Startup Act (Republic Act No. 11337), DICT is named one of three lead implementing agencies, alongside DOST and DTI, responsible for carrying out the Philippine Startup Development Program.

🇵🇭 Philippine Example

DICT's role as one of RA 11337's three named lead agencies is a real, legally defined responsibility — not an informal association — placing it alongside DOST and DTI as a direct administrator of national startup incentive programs.

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