MAKATI CITY, PHILIPPINES — Philippine Consul General in San Francisco Neil Ferrer recently met with early-stage venture capital firm Kaya Founders Founding Managing Partner Paulo Campos and Founding Director Constantin Robertz last July 19 at their headquarters in Makati City.
Economic Officer Consul Vanessa Bago-Llona joined Ferrer in the meeting.
Ferrer thanked Kaya Founders for meeting and introducing its young team. “The Consulate welcomes Kaya Founders’ expansion and reach among early-stage startups, and we hope that more startups could be supported and could thrive to solve a number of societal challenges and address pain points,” said Ferrer.
Campos encouraged returning overseas Filipinos, or what he refers to as pawikan (sea turtles), to join in nation-building and give back to the country by investing talent and capital and harnessing the benefits of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Both sides discussed potential collaborations, especially around amplifying the development and growth of the startup ecosystem in the Philippines.
Established in 2021, Kaya Founders has been supporting early-stage startups with its funds “Zero to One” and “One to Ten” funds. The venture capital firm focuses on investments in direct-to-consumers (D2C), business-to-business (B2B) marketplaces, e-commerce, healthcare, fintech, edutech, and agritech, among others. It has supported 44 companies to date.