917Ventures, AC Ventures partner to explore business opportunities in Asia-Pacific

Globe Capital Venture Holdings, Inc. (917Ventures), the corporate venture builder of top Philippine digital solutions platform Globe Telecom, has partnered with AC Ventures, a subsidiary of Filipino conglomerate Ayala Corp. (Ayala), to explore business opportunities and grow its ecosystem.

AC Ventures is the conglomerate’s platform for its investments in adjacent businesses that are complementary to its existing portfolio as well as in emerging trends and innovative businesses.

Under the arrangement, AC Ventures will participate in funding the research, development, and launch of 917Ventures’ new business ventures.

“We are very excited to work with AC Ventures. We can leverage the ecosystem and network advantage that they provide to solve the pain points of consumers and businesses. Through digital solutions, we can help pave the way and deliver indelible value to the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific region,” said Vince Yamat, Managing Director of 917Ventures.

“The accelerated growth of digital adoption has become ingrained in many Filipinos who have quickly transitioned how they work, study, play, and access basic services. Ayala intends to participate in this multi-decade transformation by contributing to the research and development and incubation of disruptive solutions across different consumer touchpoints in our portfolio. With its strong track record of developing startups to achieve scale and profitability, we believe that 917Ventures is the natural vehicle for Ayala’s digital ventures,” said Alberto de Larrazabal, Ayala’s Chief Finance Officer and AC Ventures’ President and CEO.

917Ventures has successfully spun-off 9 new companies since its inception in 2019, including HealthNow and PureGo to name a few. This is attributed to the fact that Globe Telecom has unlocked its unique advantages of data and customer base, distribution points, enterprise partners, marketing and execution capability, and capital.

The partnership with AC Ventures hopes to further accelerate both the quantity and quality of its future companies as the unique advantages now encompass the broader Ayala group, including real estate, banking, power, healthcare, and logistics.

917Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Globe Telecom, is a corporate venture builder that “ideates, launches, accelerates, and scales new business ideas”. Some of the companies under its portfolio are telehealth service platform KonsultaMD, digital and mobile advertising agency AdSpark, and Mynt, the Philippines’ #1 digital financial solutions provider and the company behind the popular GCash payment services app.

CT Bureau