Author: JL Aquino

F(DEV) marks first year, launches start-up portfolio targeting underserved markets

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F(DEV), the premier corporate-led venture builder in the Philippines, marks its first anniversary by launching its new venture portfolio targeting big gaps in the market with technology-driven business models.

As technology takes on a more pivotal role in the country’s economic recovery, the venture builder aims to introduce digital innovations and disruptive platforms to empower Filipinos and Filipino businesses toward boosting the country’s digital economy.

F(DEV), or FUNCTION DEV, is backed by the Filinvest Group of Companies and has been under the radar since its establishment in October 2020, quietly growing and strengthening its portfolio of new businesses. Its first three digital startups address gaps in the Fintech and eCommerce space, with a heavy emphasis on enabling local businesses, especially the hard-hit MSMEs, to accelerate towards a digital future. With MSMEs accounting for more than 99 percent of businesses in the country1, F(DEV) believes that technology is an essential driver for recovery and growth as the country tries to bounce back from the effects of the pandemic.

F(DEV) is led by its CEO and Managing Director, Xavier Marzan, who himself has been a startup CEO and previously led new digital product development and scale-up for two of the Fintech unicorns in the region. “Our mission at F(DEV) is to venture into technology-based businesses that serve and empower underserved markets as well as disrupt traditional industries. We have shown in the past year that we can take a startup idea from the ‘venture lab’ to market commercialization and scale-up quite rapidly – and we’ve done all of this in a lockdown environment.”

Venture builder ecosystem


F(DEV)’s core team is a diversified group of seasoned entrepreneurs, product specialists, venture operators, data mavens, designers and engineers, operating under a lean startup and innovation architecture. F(DEV) also taps on the extensive ecosystem of the Filinvest Group to support its ventures. The group has a strong presence in several industries, including banking and finance, real estate, hospitality, F&B, infrastructure, energy, and technology. By mobilizing its team in an ecosystem, fueled by its startup DNA, the venture builder is able to accelerate time-to-market for its startups before opening it up to the broader market.

The team is also exploring strategic investment opportunities in other startups that have disruptive business models to solve real-world problems and uplift the country’s digital economy at scale.

Building a Massive Portfolio of Digital Businesses


Although still very young in the industry, F(DEV) is already supporting a growing list of digital startups with a combined mission of serving underserved segments and transforming brick-and-mortar industries with technology-based business models. For the past year, the venture builder identified key market gaps and executed on these opportunities. In its portfolio today, the F(DEV) team is proud to have launched the following:

● Investree Philippines, the country’s very first SEC licensed crowdfunding platform, has already provided more than Php100 million in financing to local MSMEs on its platform. It aims to address the Php11 trillion MSME credit gap in the country;

● Qwote, a B2B e-commerce startup that seeks to disrupt the buying experience for businesses and make it extremely easy. Today, the Qwote platform already has more than 30,000 product listings and close to a thousand suppliers, providing goods and services to a fast-growing network of multinational and local corporate brands such as Amazon and Toyota;

● Fastwire, a new innovative Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that aims to make financial transactions smooth and simple for businesses;

● The team also supports its various group ecosystem ventures including Komo, the first exclusively digital banking service to be offered by a local bank, and a soon-to-be-launched digital service by the group’s hospitality unit.

Marzan remarked, “We are both humbled and inspired by what we have accomplished in such a short span of time. But we know there is so much more work to be done. At the end of the day, we also believe that the Philippines needs more startups to drive innovation and growth in the digital economy. Growth in the digital economy means a stronger Philippines in a regional and global landscape.”

Worldwide sales of OMRON blood pressure monitors tops 300 million units

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OMRON Healthcare Co., Ltd (Head Office: Muko, Kyoto, Japan, President & CEO: Isao Ogino) has announced that cumulative global sales of home-use blood pressure monitors reached 300 million units. It was 1973 when OMRON released its first electronic blood pressure monitor. And now, OMRON blood pressure monitors are available in more than 110 countries/regions across the world including the Philippines.

“We are celebrating this remarkable milestone by strengthening our commitment to serving our customers here in the Philippines even better. We are working hard on forging more partnerships and making our products more accessible so that OMRON can help more Filipino families in maintaining good heart health from home,” said Mr. Yusuke Kato, General Manager for OMRON Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd – Philippine Branch (Healthcare Division).

In the Philippines, for example, OMRON has collaborated with Philippine Society of Hypertension in educating Filipinos on how to prevent high blood pressure and heart disease by changing a healthy lifestyle and monitor blood pressure regularly at home.

Since the release of the first device, it took OMRON 36 years to achieve cumulative global sales of 100 million units in 2009. In the 2010s, people became more conscious of managing their own health, and at the same time, the number of patients with lifestyle-related diseases dramatically increased on a global scale. Just around the same time, the guidelines for home treatment of hypertension were officially established　by leading medical societies, and a new behavioural pattern – monitoring blood pressure at home – became more popular. As a result, it took only 7 years to sell the next 100 million units. Ever since, OMRON has expanded across global markets consistently, accommodating the increasing demand of blood pressure monitors not only in America, China, and Europe, but also in developing countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, India and Brazil, and it took only 5 years for marking the 300 million-unit sales this year.

An estimated 1 billion adults worldwide have hypertension, and the number of individuals with cerebro-cardiovascular diseases caused by hypertension accounts for 17.5 million. In the Philippines, the latest Preyson study released in 2021 by the Philippine Heart Association showed that the country has a progressive rise of high blood pressure among Filipinos, with the prevalence of hypertension climbing to 37 percent in 2021.Cerebro-cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally, and even when patients manage to survive after an event, there are still high risks for becoming bedridden or causing them to have serious side effects. Not only patients, but also their families can be impacted mentally and financially, and the level of their health-related quality of life (QOL) is jeopardized.

With the mission of “helping realize healthy and comfortable lives for people around the world”, OMRON Healthcare heralded its Going for ZERO vision (achieving zero cerebro-cardiovascular events) for its cardiovascular business in 2015, and has expanded the business domains focusing mainly on home blood pressure monitors. Now, taking this opportunity as a milestone for the new chapter, it will continue to identify the market demands and user needs, while responding to them swiftly with innovative solutions. Furthermore, the service business, such as the development of health-management apps for smartphones and a remote patient monitoring service will be accelerated. OMRON Healthcare will support both home health managements and healthcare professional’s patients treatment with its devices and services; helping to realize healthy and comfortable lives for people around the world.

Journey of OMRON Healthcare

In the 1970s, when measuring blood pressure had formerly been regarded as a medical procedure performed only by physicians and nurses, the first OMRON electronic blood pressure monitor was released. Since then, OMRON Healthcare has been devoting efforts to explore the easy-to-use and highly accurate blood pressure monitors and has introduced innovative devices including a wearable blood pressure monitor and an upper arm blood pressure monitor with EKG function into the market. More recently, OMRON has taken on the challenge of introducing the remote patient monitoring services on a global scale as part of the infrastructure in the New Normal, and developing AI technology to prevent the potential events of cardiovascular diseases.

Rankings by Revenue Places Kingston No. 1 with 78.02% Market Share

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Kingston Technology, a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced it has been ranked top third-party DRAM module supplier in the world, according to the latest rankings by revenue from analyst firm TrendForce (formerly DRAMeXchange). Kingston retains its number 1 position with an estimated 78.02% market share on $13.2B (USD) revenue. TrendForce states that Kingston increased revenue by 2.03% YOY marking the 18th consecutive year that Kingston has held the top spot.

Kingston maintains its competitive advantage by working closely with its suppliers, partners, and customers to remain flexible and adapt to ever-changing needs and market conditions. A driving force to Kingston’s success is their working attitude of ‘Kingston Is With You’. As one of the leading buyers of DRAM chips in the world, Kingston saw an early need for memory chips in certain markets and took a proactive approach to secure additional components needed for the potential demand such as purchasing component inventory that was bogging down their partner’s warehouses. The popular thought in early 2020 was that the technology sector would slow down due to the pandemic, but Kingston took the initiative to be prepared for those segments that would require additional DRAM; work from home PCs, gaming memory, and server farms that needed more memory for the onslaught of online purchases and activity.

Additionally, with the next generation of DDR fast approaching, Kingston is primed to provide customers with the cutting-edge speeds of DDR5. Kingston’s strong relationship with Intel will help ensure “stride for stride” solutions with Intel’s latest product launches.

“TrendForce’s findings reflect the company’s continued growth and flexibility to tackle a challenging business climate” said Kingston. “Our leading position in the market allows us to collaborate closely with our partners and vendors, and to provide education and guidance on new technology, like 16Gbit modules and the upcoming DDR5 launch, to our customers.”

TCS  goIT students develop apps to address different community challenges 

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Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, held an awarding ceremony on September 29 for the students of Cordillera who successfully completed their goIT program journey. Together with TCS executives and the Department of Education-Cordillera Administrative Region (DepED-CAR), ten groups from different schools in the said region created mobile applications to provide solutions to the many societal issues that their respective communities are facing today.

A year after its successful launch in Cordillera, TCS’ goIT program, which aims to demystify computer science and encourage students to pursue STEM education, successfully introduced to the students the design thinking, digital technologies, and agile methodologies. The program helped students gain 21st century skills which prepared them for the tech-driven world and will help to improve their communities and support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

“On behalf of the entire TCS Philippines team, we would like to congratulate our first batch of goIT students in the Philippines. Their output proved that the Filipino youth are capable of creating a better future for the country. TCS is eager to bring the success of goIT Cordillera to the other parts of the Philippines and showcase the Filipino students’ impeccable talent for technology,” shared Shiju Varghese, TCS Philippines Country Head

The goIT program was implemented throughout the academic year with an engaging curriculum which includes innovation life cycle, product prototyping and industry-relevant entrepreneurial skills. The program was facilitated by TCS employee volunteers who are delivery heads, system analysts and team leaders from different business units. These employees provided industry context and real-world scenarios which helped students have a better grasp about the different IT careers.

The technological leaders of Northern Luzon

Through the partnership of TCS and DepEd–CAR, the goIT program reached the six provinces in the region, namely Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Mt. Province and Kalinga and engaged almost 300 students. TCS proudly presents the winning entries who undoubtedly showcased their skills and learnings from the goIT program through a mobile application.

The Cordillera Regional Science High School bagged the champion award with its entry “Transformers”. The app provided solution to the community’s dilemma on waste management. The group highlighted the beauty in trash by creating a market place between companies and regular consumers for an organized recycling and upcycling transactions. The app hopes to collaborate with GPS Tracking and delivery service providers for a more convenient and safe disposal of orders. The app will not only provide income to its users but will also help the environment fight waste pollution.

The Cordillera Regional Science High School also won 1st runner up with its other entry Comstop which aimed to deliver solutions to the region’s food waste problems. The 2nd place was awarded to the app TY Alert from Alejo M. Pacalso Memorial High School. The app was designed as a holistic source of information in times of typhoon and relevant calamities. Baguio City Science National High School with the app Anemo and the Mountain Province General Comprehensive High School with their entry WeCare tied at the 3rd place. The Anemo addressed the challenges in water consumption while WeCare tackled the pressing issues about Mental Health. All winners will receive certificates, medals and trophies.

The Transformers app team from the Cordillera Regional Science High School shares, “It feels surreal to be considered as the TCS goIT Digital Innovation Fair 2021 Champion. We know that everyone put their best foot forward and exerted so much effort to create innovative outputs to help address the issues in our communities. This award won’t be possible without the help and support of our coach, school, teachers, and the people behind TCS Philippines who relentlessly believe in the talent and skills of Filipino Youth. We’re truly grateful for the opportunity and learning experiences. To all the participants, may we all be reminded that we are all game-changers here. We’re all catalysts of change.”

TCS and DepEd-CAR celebrates these students’ achievement in creating a storyboard and mobile app prototype that addresses the issues of their communities such as lack of water supply, electricity consumption, education, mental health and medical assistance, and lack of awareness of natural disasters and calamities.

“We are extremely proud of our students here in the Cordillera Administrative Region for coming up with solutions to help their communities amid the many challenges we are facing today. DepEd-CAR is grateful to TCS Philippines for giving our students this opportunity to learn and contribute to the society. DepEd-CAR remains firm in promoting quality education for every Filipino youth and in helping students become critical thinkers and more adept with technological skills needed in creating a better future. We are hoping that the goIT program will continue to encourage students to pursue STEM. DepEd–CAR is open and looking forward for more projects like this with TCS,” said Estela Cariño, Department of Education–Cordillera Administrative Region Regional Director.

Patrick Veril, TCS Philippines CSR Manager also added that “goIT Cordillera is just the beginning of the many more TCS goIT projects in the Philippines. More than the official culminating of our first leg, our heart is full in witnessing how the young minds are aware of the needs of their communities and are capable of transforming the society. TCS Philippines is grateful to DepEd–CAR for the partnership and the support from day one to this day.”

For the safety of the students and the rest of the participants, the awarding ceremony was held virtually via Zoom. Banking on Building on Belief as its core value, TCS vows to continue its initiative to help students improve their technology skills and build more digital leaders of tomorrow.

TCS’ goIT is a signature community engagement program in North America, LATAM, Europe, and the Asia Pasific. It is tailored to meet the specific needs of local communities in each region. The program is estimated to have reached more than 97,000 students worldwide across 32 countries.

Record High COVID-19 Crowdfunding Campaigns Spike as Delta Virus Hit Hard Southeast Asia

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Despite the stringent effort to curb the pandemic around the globe, the Delta variant found new routes into Southeast Asia. Cases were at an all-time high in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Indonesia has the highest number of cases with 3,989,060 cases and 127,214 deaths followed by the Philippines with 1,857,646 cases and 31,961 deaths and Malaysia with 11,572,765 cases and 14,342 deaths.

The highly contagious Delta variant was first detected in India last October and has become the dominant strain worldwide. With this spike in Southeast Asia, many people sought help to help themselves and their families to raise funds for a variety of causes. During this pandemic, the use of such initiatives has significantly helped individuals or communities requiring money for medical, personal, and other expenses.

The covid-19 pandemic has changed the world a lot, we get to see how the weakness of the system and governments are in handling this crisis, we also get to see how people are unprepared and suffering from this pandemic. Crowdfunding became one of the most helpful ways to alleviate their needs, it became a tool to empower them to rise beyond their needs by asking help from kindhearted people across the globe. Crowdfunding provided

“Airfunding has been helping a lot of people especially COVID-19 related project overall we have raised $321,518 USD for pandemic related projects in the past year and still gearing up to help more people across the globe get help beyond borders and beyond lockdowns.” – Ryosuke Abe, CEO Co-Founder Kiheitai Inc.

Many crowdfunding platforms are available across the globe, however, many of which are not available in Southeast Asia. Not even the world’s biggest crowdfunding platform that helped millions of people get funding is not yet available in the region. But not to fear, as Kiheitai Inc., a Tokyo-based digital company that owns the crowdfunding site called Airfunding is here to help everyone by everyone. In its 3 years of operations, Airfunding has helped close to a million people around the world get funding for medical and other personal or community needs. In the region alone, Airfunding has helped over 300,000 people raise funds for any cause especially in this time of pandemic where people need financial assistance to pay for their medical, business, community, or even personal needs.

Airfunding is a fundraising platform that specializes in small-scale projects made by individuals, groups, or local NGOs, for a personal cause, community initiative, an event, or just anything that needs funding. It is a keep-it-all crowdfunding platform, so the project owners keep the entire amount collected even if the target has not been met.

There is help beyond borders and barriers, Airfunding has over 10,000,000 supporters around the world and can be accessed in 200+ countries. Airfunding is free to use, anyone can register and start creating projects in less than 5 minutes. Joining is completely free, Start your Airfunding project today!