Malaya Business Insight
The National Development Company (NDC), the government’s investment arm, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Asian venture capital firm Quest Ventures to become knowledge partners in driving startup innovation and investments in the country.
In a statement, NDC said the collaboration aims to leverage the combined expertise and resources of both parties to address the potential of the Philippines startup and innovation ecosystem.
For this collaboration, the NDC will leverage its newly established Philippine Innovation Hub, the headquarters of the Startup Venture Fund, the Philippine E-commerce Platform and the Ph AI Research Center.
The MOU was signed in Manila by Anton Mauricio, general manager of the NDC and April Ong Vaño, head of Environment, Social & Governance at Quest Ventures.
Mauricio said Quest Ventures brings valuable cross-border insights, best practices and extensive network to the partnership aimed at enhancing the local venture capital ecosystem and promoting sustainable investments.
Ong Vaño said Quest Ventures will bring its venture capital courses and accelerators and will implement Philippine-specific programs to address new sectors of opportunities such as sustainability.
Quest Ventures has a portfolio of over a hundred venture-backed companies operating in more than 150 cities across Asia. These include industry leaders such as 99.co, Carousell, Carro, Glife, Hepmil/ PGAG, Oddle, Shopback, VulcanPost, Xfers, and Kraver’s Canteen. Its enterprise innovation clients include Applied Materials, Coca-Cola, HP, Nissan, and Tencent.
