In a significant boost to the Philippine fintech ecosystem, Higala, the country’s pioneering Inclusive Instant Payment System, has successfully extended its seed funding round to US$2.8 million. The additional capital comes from Talino Venture Studios, known for sustainable innovation investments, and 1982 Ventures, a Singapore-licensed venture capital firm specializing in Southeast Asian fintech startups.
1982 Ventures, which led this extension round, has previously invested in notable Philippine fintech companies including NextPay (an SME digital bank) and Lista (a rapidly growing financial management application). The firm also supports Brick, an Indonesian business payments and API platform.
“Higala’s innovative approach to inclusive instant payments is directly aligned with our vision of using fintech to change lives,” according to Scott Krivokopich, Managing Partner at 1982 Ventures. He praised Higala’s leadership team of Winston Damarillo and Vice Catudio for their “proven track record in building core payments infrastructure,” expressing pride in partnering with the company to launch modern payment infrastructure that will make “the Philippines’ five billion monthly transactions faster, cheaper, and available to all sectors of the economy.”
Since its launch last year, Higala has been working diligently to expand financial access across the Philippines. The company has focused on connecting rural banks, thrift banks, commercial banks, and electronic money issuers to its growing network while simultaneously reducing costs for real-time payments and lowering barriers to entry.
Winston Damarillo, Higala’s CEO, highlighted that this funding milestone will greatly benefit the company’s “robust ecosystem, which now includes an instant payment system, a platform bank, and an extensive network of collaborators.” These partners are collectively committed to improving financial system resilience and accelerating digital banking adoption throughout the country.
Platform Banking Launch & Network Expansion
Higala plans to launch its platform banking service in the second quarter of 2025. This initiative aims to enable smaller banks and financial institutions to offer digital payment services, providing them with access and participation in instant payment systems.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) has joined forces with Higala to provide core technology for SynerFi, an open payments platform designed to extend digital payment access to smaller Philippine financial institutions.
Vice Catudio, Higala’s President and Chief Revenue Officer, noted that the company’s network, empowers partners to launch new services, reach new market segments, and strengthen existing business lines through increased reliability and lower operational costs.
Higala’s expanding network already includes numerous financial institutions, with over 40 participants in RCBC’s SynerFi service and multiple rural banks from the RCBC ATMGo network, including Rizal Microbank, Guagua Rural Bank, SNR Rural Bank, and many others.
Lito Villanueva, RCBC Executive Vice President and FinTech Alliance PH Chairman, described this development as “the realization of BSP’s open finance roadmap initially focusing on open payments use cases making digital transactions more seamless and frictionless.”
Powered by Mojaloop technology — an open-source instant payment system supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — Higala continues to collaborate with partners including RCBC, Xendit, FinTech Alliance PH, and the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines to advance financial inclusion throughout the nation.