Regional RegTech firm Tookitaki launches in the Philippines, fosters partnerships with the country’s leading all-in-one money platform and PayMongo to fight financial crimes

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Southeast Asian regulatory technology (regtech) firm Tookitaki recently announced its launch in the Philippines with partnerships with payment gateway company Paymongo and the country’s leading all-in-one money platform.

Headquartered in Singapore, Tookitaki provides end-to-end financial crime solutions to some of the world’s leading financial institutions. In the ASEAN region, some of the largest banks and fintech companies rely on Tookitaki to transform their anti-money laundering (AML) compliance needs. 

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported that the Philippine financial system is at ‘medium risk’ of being used for money laundering last year. While preventive measures have been placed to curb risk of dirty money, the country remains in the gray list of international watchdog on money laundering and terror financing Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as of June 2022. 

“We are deeply committed to empower the banking and financial services (BFS) sector in the Philippines to fight money laundering in the most effective and efficient manner,” shared Abhishek Chatterjee, Founder and CEO of Tookitaki. He adds, “The volume of digital banking and ecommerce transactions is rising exponentially, with global cashless payment volumes expected to increase by more than 80% from 2020 to 2025 and total cross-border payments reaching over $156 trillion. Unfortunately, this vast flow of money crisscrossing the globe provides cover for money laundering and the Philippines is no exception. As more Filipino consumers become part of the banking ecosystem and financial crime becomes more sophisticated, the financial institutions (FIs) in the region need to look beyond traditional and siloed AML systems to keep pace with growing business and compliance requirements.”

Designed on three C-principles – comprehensive, convenient and compliant – Tookitaki’s AML solution can empower FIs in the region to strengthen their risk coverage and mitigate risks seamlessly in the ever-evolving world of regulatory compliance. Named Anti-Money Laundering Suite or AMLS, it became an instant hit with the region’s digital banks and fintechs because of its unique Hub and Spoke model for powerful transaction monitoring. The ‘Hub’ is an extensive and evolving collection of latest intelligence on money laundering patterns sourced from AML expert network globally in a privacy-preserved manner. The ‘Spoke’ represents a simulation setup and allows local companies to download and test relevant patterns from the Hub, detect illicit money trails and stay protected. The Spoke is installed within the environment of a financial institution without letting the test data leave the network, therefore providing utmost security. Built on BigData, AMLS extensively uses machine learning for its transaction monitoring, smart screening and customer risk scoring solutions. The alerts from all solutions are unified in an interactive, modern-age Case Manager that offers companies with speedy alert disposition and easy regulatory report filing.  

Ahead of its local launch, Tookitaki secured partnerships with the country’s leading all-in-one money platform and PayMongo to rapidly help the growing fintech industry of the country reduce risk and design a robust anti-money laundering program, aligning with the compliance norms set out by the local regulator. This will offer safer and more secure transactions for the money platform’s over 47 million users and the digital payment platform’s over 10,000 partner merchants. “We look forward to partnering with more fintechs and local banks in the region offering an end-to-end AML detection and prevention software solution,” mentions Mr Chatterjee.

Earlier this year, Thunes, a global leader in powering payments, took a majority stake in Tookitaki to accelerate global business expansion and a major focus was laid to deepen presence in core APAC markets, including Philippines. Setting up its Philippine office in Q3 2022, Tookitaki will be employing Filipino talents for its local operations to strengthen the country’s pool of regtech talents and contribute to the economic growth of the country.

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About Tookitaki

Tookitaki is a regulatory technology company offering financial crime detection and prevention to some of the world's leading banks and fintechs to help them transform their AML and compliance  technology needs. Founded in November 2014, the Company employs over 100 people across Asia, Europe and the US. Tookitaki’s innovations in regulatory compliance have been acknowledged worldwide. Chartis Research named the company a Rising Star in its 2021 RiskTech 100 report. In 2020,  the company won the Regulation Asia  Awards for Excellence and  G20TechSprint  accelerator.  In  2019, the company was featured in the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer List. 

For more information, visit www.tookitaki.ai

PH Multi-Channel Commerce Platform developer startup, ChatGenie raises additional investment in recent fundraising campaign

Manila, Philippines – Fast-growing Multi-Channel Commerce Platform development startup company, ChatGenie, reached another milestone by raising additional capital in its recent fundraising campaign as part of Accelerating Asia’s fifth cohort. 

The funding it secured will enable ChatGenie to expand its reach in distributing its product to as many merchants as possible. Currently, the pandemic-born startup has provided online payment and automated delivery services to more than 2,500 merchants.  

With the increasing demand of online businesses now, the investment will also help ChatGenie to expand its operations by growing its team to cater to more clients and scale its services. 

Opportunity in crisis 

Founded a month before the pandemic hit the Philippines in 2020, ChatGenie proved its relevance in the market as online businesses thrive with more people setting up online stores. It was included in Forbes Asia's inaugural "100 to Watch" list because of its relevance in the market today. 

To date, over 2,500 transactions have been done on Messenger, GCash and Viber using ChatGenie and a total of P150 million worth of transactions have been done via the store platform. It has partnered with a number of notable brands and digital wallet platforms, such as GCash, PayMaya, and PayMongo.   

In November 2021, it introduced its MSME Booster Program which aims to provide micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) up to six months of free online store on Messenger, Instagram, Viber, GCash, and other business tools. 

They provided Filipino MSMEs who want to try the features of ChatGenie, a 3-month ChatGenie Pro subscription for free to help them digitize their businesses.  

Promising position in the market 

For the fifth cohort, Accelerating Asia picked 9 startups in Asia, including the Philippines' end-to-end store platform ChatGenie, for its first batch of investments from its US$20 million Fund II. 

Accelerating Asia is a Singapore-based early-stage venture capital fund that invests in pre-Series A startups from across Southeast and South Asia. Cohort 5 was Accelerating Asia's most competitive selection to date with 550 applications from 30 countries, of which only 1.5 percent were chosen.  

“With retailers across Asia digitising at the fastest rate in history, ChatGenie's platform provides an easy on ramp to potentially millions of businesses to more easily interact with a larger customer base more efficiently. The company's executive team is a perfect fit for executing the business model which is proven by its stellar traction to date. Accelerating Asia is excited to provide support and be an early investor into ChatGenie as it expands across the Philippines and regionally,” Accelerating Asia General Partner Craig Bristol Dixon said.  

“Accelerating Asia is a great partner for us in the current stage of our business. They provide us with the tools, network, and mentorship that we need to grow fast,” says Ragde Falcis, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer of ChatGenie.PH. 

Among the recent investors of ChatGenie are founders of their own startup – Shahab Shababi (MyKuya), Farouk Meralli (mClinica), Saul Molla (FlowerStore), Andrew Koger (GoodWork.PH), George Padin (Abstract Digital), Ray Refundo, Earvin Ang and Paul Cualteros (Qwikwire),  Aldrich Tan (NextPay), and Dominick Danao (Magpie.im).  

“I firmly believe companies will inevitably adapt to digitalization and AI. This is where ChatGenie will be very beneficial to them, especially when people are looking for convenience. 

Convenience with ChatGenie's product will be a game-changer for e-commerce here in the Philippines. A platform where it is easy to purchase goods not only will help the startup ecosystem but also the e-commerce ecosystem here in the country. The timing is perfect for ChatGenie,” said Earvin Ang, Co-Founder and President of Global Real Estate Solutions Startup, Aqwire, on why he invested in ChatGenie. 

Shabab Shababi, Founder of MyKuya and CEO of Machine Ventures, see’s ChatGenie’s recent success is a source of inspiration for PH startups to come up with innovative solutions to solve existing market problems.  

“The pandemic has exposed the areas of our economy that need to be made more resilient. For that we need to simplify the way products and services are offered & make it more efficient. While our venture, MyKuya does that for the services industry, we saw ChatGenie covering this gap for the product sellers in the country. We need a new mindset for this new world and we are excited for ChatGenie to empower every product seller in the country,” said Shabab.  

Looking ahead 

In 2022, ChatGenie hopes to partner with more brands so it could provide its services to businesses that are thriving online.  

“So far we have been able to partner with one of the biggest telecommunication companies to upsell our product to its business clients. We are looking for more partnerships like this where we can help their existing merchants grow while increasing the value that our partners provide,” says Falcis. 

 ChatGenie is now gearing up for its next online demo day on December 16 this year as part of Accelerating Asia’s Accelerator Program. It hopes to lure more investors in its next fundraising campaign. 

“We accepted ChatGenie in the INQBATION: Leveling up B2B Startups 6-month program because we saw how much they grew during the incubation period so we were attracted to consider them for investment,” said Ben Alderson, Senior Head of Strategy and Investments of QBO Innovation Hub and Ideaspace Foundation Inc.  

“We see ChatGenie continuing to grow customer adoption of their core product, adding additional features that make it easier for their users to operate their MSME businesses and expanding to new markets throughout SEA and potentially even further afield,” he added.  

If you wish to invest in one of the Philippines’ fastest-growing startups, check out their website and contact them by visiting this link. 

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About ChatGenie 

ChatGenie is a Multi-Channel Commerce Platform Development Company that lets businesses sell inside the world’s biggest apps. Our vision is to be the go-to platform for businesses and retailers that are looking to sell where their customers are. We believe that the most efficient eCommerce Sales Channel strategy is to sell on Mobile Apps that are already installed on customers’ mobile phones. To know more about ChatGenie, visit https://chatgenie.ph/.

About Accelerating Asia 

Accelerating Asia is an accelerator VC that runs programs for early-stage startups and investors. Licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Accelerating Asia’s early-stage VC fund focuses on pre-Series A startups with untapped potential that are 6-18 months away from institutional funding.  While most angel investors and startup programs in the region focused on ideation-minimum viable product stage startups, and venture funds focused on solid product-market fit, startups with a robust product at early stages of customer traction are often overlooked. That is where Accelerating Asia comes in. Our accelerator and venture capital model is designed to support pre-Series A startups to fast track growth and drive success, unlocking the potential in them.  

At the core of the work we do is the guiding belief that entrepreneurs are one of humanity’s  greatest catalysts for positive change.   

https://acceleratingasia.com/