Venture Capital fuels tech innovation,
but it is the startup community that nurtures it.
Venture Capital fuels tech innovation, but it is the startup community that nurtures it.
Startups need relationships to thrive and Kickstart, at its heart, is a relationship-builder: we create opportunities for startups to connect directly with investors, mentors, businesses, and ecosystem enablers e.g. educators and educational institutions, government agencies and legislators, and the media.
There are too many hurdles that startup founders need to overcome, and too many gaps they live with.
By breaking through protocol and bureaucracy to accelerate collaboration between enterprises and startups; by opening our networks to build a broader base of support for startups, we at Kickstart hope to see a Philippine startup community that’s justifiably proud of its achievements and optimistic about its prospects for the future!
Brand Hacks That Promote the Philippine Startup Ecosystem
New to the Philippine startup community? Don’t worry, we can help you find them and find each other. Today, we’re responsible for three industry-impacting brands that promote the Philippine startup scene:
- #startupPH– widely-adopted as the brand for the broader Philippine startup ecosystem, and a quick hack to search for news, events, and people in the Philippine startup community;
- #area55 – an identity for the nexus of the Philippine startup scene (similar to “Silicon Valley,” or Singapore’s “Block 71”), and the gateway for meeting the most prominent startups and investors in the country; and
- #raidthefridge – Kickstart’s signature networking mixer held monthly since August 2012, it is an open event that gathers the startup community and visitors for relevant speakers and opportunities for collaboration.

In The Spotlight: Corporate-Startup Collaboration
Businesses need to innovate, and partnerships with startups offer a powerful opportunity for startups to operate/compete more effectively and creatively.
In the Philippines, we are enabling a dynamic where trust and openness are as equally important as innovative technology, product-market fit, speed, and agility, and corporations and startups are starting to collaborate.
We’re looking to inspire more companies to actively work with startups, and to approach Kickstart to work with its portfolio companies. You can reach us at collaborate@kickstart.ph.
Topics & Events
- Kickstart Ventures, Inc. to Manage New $150M Venture Capital Fund of Ayala Corp.July 8, 2019More cash, a broader mandate, and an exciting new mission to pursue. Kickstart Ventures will be looking at a range of Series A to Series C technology investments that will help build a future that is frictionless, symbiotic, equitable, and boldly efficient.
- Coins.ph acquisition by Go-Jek; startup growth lessons sharedFebruary 15, 2019The Coins.ph acquisition by Go-Jek represents one of the first large exits for a startup founded in the Philippines in recent years. Its founder Ron Hose shares their growth lessons-- transforming from crypto exchange services to a suite of mobile wallet and payments services that's unlike the earlier mobile wallets accessed by Filipinos.
- PH venture capital and private equity players form VCAPJanuary 30, 2019Leading venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) players in the Philippines form the Venture Capital & Private Equity Association of the Philippines or VCAP -- an investment industry association to promote a greater understanding of the roles VC and PE play in economic growth, to foster the growth of entrepreneurship and innovation, to encourage foreign investments into the VC and PE sectors in the Philippines.
- Philippine startup community networking mixer with Coins.ph on Feb 28th!February 20, 2019Kickstart Ventures brings you the 69th edition of Raid The Fridge, our monthly #startupPH networking mixer, with fintech Coins.ph founder Ron Hose to talk about building Coins.ph from seed funding to acquisition, setting strong company culture, and competing with incumbent players backed by two of Philippine’s largest conglomerates.
Partnerships

Innov8 Sparks
A network of technology startup support and funding initiatives founded by members of the Singtel Group. Foundation members of Innov8 Sparks are Singtel Innov8, AIS The Startup, Globe Kickstart Ventures, Optus-Innov8 Seed as well as Telkomsel Teman Dev.

Venture Capital & Private Equity Association of the Philippines
VCAP is an industry association for institutions and practitioners who invest or are interested in investing in the Venture Capital (VC) and Private Equity (PE) asset classes in the Philippines, as well as for those who offer supporting services for said institutions and practitioners (e.g. lawyers, accountants, investment banks, etc). For membership inquiries, contact info@vcap.ph.