A new report has found that 74% of Filipino startup founders believe that the Philippine government does not provide adequate support, while 57% said the country “greatly lacks” funding opportunities.
These are some of the findings contained in a newly launched study, “Philippine Startup Ecosystem Report: Founders Edition 2023” which Philippine-based venture capital firm Gobi-Core Philippine Fund released on Monday, Nov. 20.
Co-presented by Alibaba Global Initiatives, the report provides an analysis of the Philippine startup landscape based on insights from a survey conducted with several of the ecosystem’s established founders.
Aside from the mere availability of funding both from the private and the public sector, the founders also voice difficulties vaulting regulatory hurdles, suggesting that addressing these would take government coordination, regulatory clarity, and a more supportive environment for startups.
They also highlighted a lack of educational and learning opportunities within the country, with the education system yet to fully align with the needs of the startup industry.
However, the survey noted that local entrepreneurs find ways and means to make their businesses work out of an industry-wide belief that the Philippines both deserves and is capable of building a dynamic startup ecosystem.
The report also highlighted the country’s strengths which include its large English-proficient consumer market, increasing digital adoption, and passionate founders.
“With favorable macroeconomic conditions supporting the adoption of technology and the establishment of businesses, the years characterized by low interest rates — implemented globally by central banks to boost liquidity amidst the pandemic — have led to significant inflows of venture capital funding for founders between 2020 and 2022,” it noted.
“Given such low borrowing costs, lower returns from debt investments, and stock market uncertainty, global investors took notice of private markets and circled in on the venture capital space, delivering over $200 million to the Philippine tech space in 2020. However, due to recent conditions, deal count and fundraising fell by over 21% and 40% from 2022 to 2023 alone,” the report indicated.
