Salmon Group (Salmon), a leading emerging markets financial technology firm operating a financing company and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)-regulated bank in the Philippines, announced the completion of an $88 million fundraise to double down on its commitment to bring cutting-edge fintech and simplify access to credit across Southeast Asia. The funding transaction consists of a $60 million drawdown under a three-year $150 million Nordic bond framework agreement and $28 million of new equity raised from blue-chip US institutional investors, Antler Elevate, as well as existing shareholders of Salmon. The list of existing investors includes the International Finance Corporation, the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi ADQ/Lunate, Northstar, Back in Black Capital and prominent Filipino investors. The equity round was led by Spice Expeditions, LP (Spice), a venture capital firm focused on global fintech. Spice was founded by Nick Huber, who was a partner at Ribbit Capital prior to launching the firm in 2024. The bond transaction marks the first-ever Nordic bond issuance by a technology firm out of Southeast Asia. At $88 million of combined funding, the transaction is one of the largest recent investments in the Philippine financial technology industry, propelling Salmon to the top ranks of challenger fintech players in the country. Commenting on the transaction, Pavel Fedorov, co-founder of Salmon, noted, “Salmon is on a mission to revolutionise banking in Southeast Asia. For too long, the legacy banks in the region have provided sub-standard products, service and customer experience, and the Philippines is a case in point. At Salmon, we believe in the quality of our technology and proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to bring customers better products — the most empowering of which is access to credit." Even though Salmon is only two and a half years old, today we have one of the highest-rated financial service mobile apps in the Philippines (rated 4.8/4.7 in App Store/Google Play), are present both online and at more than 3,000 locations across the country, and offer four consumer credit products that unlock access to better lives for millions. The 8.88% deposit rate offered by our BSP-regulated bank is the highest in the Philippines, as it passes on the cost efficiencies of its tech-centric model and limited branch infrastructure directly to depositors. "With the successful closing of this transaction, and with the strength of Salmon’s one-of-a-kind team, we will be taking Salmon to leadership positions in the financial services industry across Southeast Asia. We are grateful to new and existing investors for their trust and support of our vision, Fedorov said.” Redisseminated by The Asian Banker
