The US-based mobile remittance app team of TANGGapp launched the reverse padala product feature where Philippines-based account holders can easily send money to their loved ones in the US in a few clicks on their phones.
TANGGapp said the newest service is aimed towards parents who send their children to college or friends who ask friends for pasabuy requests before they travel home to the Philippines.
The company said paying someone in the US is now as easy as texting, and one does not need to go to a bank or remittance center.
“All that is needed is for the sender and receiver is install TANGGapp on their mobile phone with their local bank connected. PH-based users can now send money easily starting with BPI, Unionbank, RCBC, and Chinabank accounts,” it said.
TANGGapp also announced that it would open its pre-Series A round of funding soon, on the heels of 56x growth for its mobile remittance product.
The company raised its $2.5 million seed round funding last year, led by both global and Philippine investors.
The round was led by leading global consumer tech venture capital funds such as TEN13 and Goodwater Capital, regional investors such as North Fifth Asia and Philippines investors that include Foxmont Capital and angels from the Manila Angel Investors’ Network (MAIN).
The funding brings their total funds raised to date to $4 million.
TANGGapp said the key to their successful raise is the exponential organic growth in their mobile remittance product despite being in the market for only two years.
It said users love their product, boasting on average a 48-percent repeat usage rate, or more than triple the financial technology industry benchmark.
Customers in the Philippines are able to connect most local banks and e-wallets for seamless transacting, covering more than 90 percent of the country’s local adult population.
TANGGapp said it saw hundreds of millions of pesos go through its app. The traction has mostly been organic, showing the market’s hunger for a fast, easy, safe and convenient way to send money abroad, it said.
The company was founded by Rebecca Kersch, a Filipina-Dutch and American Harvard graduate with multiple Master’s degrees.
“Sending money should be as easy as texting, regardless of where you live or what you earn,” said Kersch.
“At TANGGapp, we believe that digital mobile payment services can improve, starting with this offering to fellow Filipinos,” she said.
The company’s long-term vision is to democratize access to payments and to improve the lives of migrants and the unbanked globally through innovative financial inclusion.