SPROUT SOLUTIONS Philippines, Inc., a human resource and payroll management systems provider, announced on Monday its $6-million Series A investment for expansion across the country.

Patrick Gentry, Sprout Solutions founder and chief executive officer, announced on Monday that the company has closed its Series A round and raised around $6 million of capital from foreign investors, including the US investment firm Point72 Ventures, Dymon Asia, Next Billion Ventures (NBV), and Endeavor Catalyst.

“We are going to be expanding through provinces. We are now spreading a lot more nationwide,” he said during a media roundtable at the Bonifacio Global City.

Mr. Gentry said the company’s existing investors, including local firm Kickstart Ventures and Singapore-based firms Beenext and Wavemaker Partners, also took part after participating in the company’s 2017 seed round that raised $1.6 million.

With the fresh funds, Mr. Gentry said Sprout Solutions is targeting to put up offices in areas outside Metro Manila next year, including Davao City and Clark in Pampanga.

He said the company already has at least 300 client-companies nationwide.

“We are serving larger and larger companies here in the Philippines. Actually today, we have a nationwide presence already. Like we have a lot of clients in Davao, Cebu, Clark, Baguio, Palawan, but we don’t have offices in these places,” he added.

In a press release, he noted that the perception that “the Philippines is a highly demanding investment environment has kept it off the radar of traditional Western investors.”

“Growing a business in the Philippines from scratch is nothing like in Silicon Valley. The trust barrier here is so high, so you really have to focus on overcoming that obstacle before you start to see any success,” Mr. Gentry explained.

“This means you need to have solid business fundamentals and solid revenue streams, but more than that, you have to do the right thing and take care of people before you can establish that trust,” he added. — Arjay L. Balinbin

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