Kaya Founders raises $25M fund to back more Filipino founders

Kaya Founders, a Philippines-based venture capital firm, today announced the successful final close of its US$25 million fund, marking a major milestone in Kaya’s mission to back the next generation of Filipino and regional founders building technology-driven solutions for the Philippines and Southeast Asia. Helmed by operators-turned-angel investors Paulo Campos (ex-CEO, Zalora Philippines), Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng (CEO, Summit Media), and Ray Alimurung (ex-CEO, Lazada Philippines), Kaya Founders is the Philippines’ most active early-stage VC fund in the Philippines today.

Its second fund follows a stapled fund structure and includes the firm’s “Zero to One” Pre-seed Fund and its “One to Ten” Seed to Series A Fund. This two-pronged structure is designed to support founders from idea stage to growth scale. Investors into the fund include a diverse and strong mix of local and international partners such as Singapore-based Pavilion Capital, Gabriel and Geraldine Sunshine of Boston-based hedge fund Bracebridge Capital, Chicago-based Concentric Equity Partners, alongside leading local family offices and technology operators. Kaya previously announced its partnership with local technology solutions provider AMTI in April 2023, which serves as an anchor investor in the fund.

Founded in 2021, Kaya Founders has built a portfolio of over 40 startups across multiple sectors including e-commerce, fintech, education, healthcare, software-as-a-service, agriculture and more. Notable investments include e-commerce enabler Etaily, cloud logistics platform Locad, banking-as-a-service provider Netbank, and PayMongo, one of the leading payments providers in the country backed by US fintech Stripe. With this second fund, Kaya Founders aims to back 10 to 20 additional startups across the Philippines and Southeast Asia over the next three years.

In line with its continued focus on innovation for financial inclusion and sustainability, Kaya Founders has made new investments this past year in Datung, ProTech, LenderLink, and SunFund. These companies represent a growing wave of innovators advancing financial access, digital inclusion, and clean energy.

Kaya Founders’ announcement of its final close coincides with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Startup Venture Fund of the National Development Company (NDC), an investment arm of the Philippine government. The partnership builds on Kaya’s appointment as an official co-investment partner of the SVF and reflects the government’s continued commitment to deepen collaboration with the private sector. The strategic partnership aims to expand capital access for Filipino startups, igniting innovation, job creation, and inclusive economic growth.

The firm sees a strong opportunity for disciplined early stage investing as the regional funding environment normalizes and the Philippines start-up ecosystem continues to mature. With operational expertise and deep conviction in the local market, Kaya is well positioned to offer its investors differentiated access to the next generation of high growth companies and an attractive entry point into one of the region’s fastest growing tech ecosystems. The firm believes that these areas will define the region’s next wave of category leaders and offer its LPs one of the most compelling avenues for returns in the decade ahead.

“At Kaya, we’ve always believed in building the future we want to see. This fund close is more than a milestone—it’s a vote of confidence in that vision. At a time when investor sentiment in Southeast Asia’s tech ecosystem is being tested, we’re doubling down on the Philippines. We see an exciting market brimming with talent, ambition, and untapped opportunities for company-building. This moment brings us one step closer to realizing the future we’re committed to creating,” says Founding Managing General Partner Paulo Campos.