MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Advance Intelligence Group Limited (AIGL), the fintech startup behind Atome Philippines’ PayLater Anywhere Card, has been listed in the inaugural NextGen Tech 30 award, a prestigious award celebrating Southeast Asia’s Top 30 tech startups.
The award is the region’s first collaboration between government and private organizations, including tech venture capital firms Granite Asia, KKR, and Northstar Group, Singapore’s Economic Development Board, InfoComm Media Development Authority (IMDA), and DBS Bank.
It was presented on September 24 at Singapore’s stock exchange, SGX Centre, by Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Heng Swee Keat.
Winners were assessed based on several key criteria:
- Demonstration of AI or digitalization that solve problems more efficiently
- Minimum US$20 million revenue, or year-on-year revenue growth of 30% or higher
- Headquartered in ASEAN or operating primarily within the region
- Clear ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) strategy and long-term value creation.
With credit card penetration in the Philippines at just 2% in 2022 and the growing popularity of digital finance apps, the Atome Paylater Anywhere Card in the Philippines has been growing organically 20% month on month in terms of cardholder base. For over 80% of cardholders, it is their first-ever card product, with daily payment use cases being utility and telephone communication bills, groceries, and e-commerce purchases.
Magic Tang, Head of Atome Cards, said, “This award is a recognition of how our innovative use of AI technology and prudent risk management strategy is solving the huge credit crunch challenge in the Philippines. For so many of our Atome Philippines cardholders, it is their first-ever card product and we are also seeing very high daily engagement and use cases to afford basic necessities. This eventually graduates them to build a credit history and on-ramp to traditional financial products and services.”
Last month, a subsidiary of Advance Intelligence Group, ADVANCE.AI, also announced it had signed an agreement with state-owned Credit Information Corporation to launch the newest credit bureau in the Philippines.
