Gobi-Core Philippine Fund (GCPF), a US$10-million fund jointly formed by Gobi Partners and Philippine VC firm Core Capital, today disclosed an investment in local live-streaming startup Kumu as part its Series A fundraise.
The startup, which closed the round earlier this year, will utilise the funds to expand and support the growing engagement on its platform.
In the last two years, Kumu claims to have become a fast-growing startup, continuously dominating the app downloads. As per a statement, its user base has more than doubled since the start of the year, surpassing the five-million mark by October.
By the end of 2020, Kumu hopes to have more than 600 content creators on its platform earning double the minimum wage in the Philippines, about 20x more than what the platform had at the start of the year.
Kumu CEO and Co-founder Roland Ros said: “It is truly exciting to become one of the first startups to become part of the Philippine Fund, and be joined by partners who share the same vision as I do—that the Philippines can provide the right support for local startups to excel. And with this investment, our team can expand to support the growing engagement in the platform.”
“Kumu exudes the vision we have for the Philippine startup community — that our local players can be movers of the economy with innovative and efficient solutions,” Core Capital Co-founder Jason Gaisano said.
Established in 2018, GCPF is an early-stage investor which aims to build the founding pillars of the growing startup community in the Philippines. Since its launch, GCPF has invested in local edutech startup Edukasyon and insurtech startup MariaHealth.
The fund hopes to invest in four more startups in emerging industries such as foodtech, gaming and logistics by end-2021.
Also Read: Edukasyon extends Series A round to deepen Gen Z student engagement in Philippines
“The early and encouraging success of our first batch of investments shows there is potential for Filipino startups to be big players in their respective industries,” said Ken Ngo, Co-founder of Core Capital. “I believe that as we continue to work closely together, we can make a positive impact on our startup ecosystem and on our economy for many years to come.”
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Image Credit: Photo by Kushagra Kevat on Unsplash
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