The startup is launching AQwire, a blockchain-powered multi-listing platform to help brokers and property developers sell their units to foreign buyers, and is raising US$9.9M in ICO
Qwikwire Billing Systems, a Philippines-based cross-border billing and invoicing startup for enterprises, has secured an undisclosed sum in a financing round, led by local VC firm First Asia Venture Capital and incubator Cerebro Labs.
The round also saw participation from several unnamed investors from the US and Japan.
Qwikwire says that this is its biggest funding to date. The firm has earlier raised over US$460,000 from 500 Startups, JFDI, and Manila Angel Investors Network.
The proceeds from the latest round of funding will be used for overseas expansion.
Qwikwire was started by Ray Refundo and Scott Yu as a payroll platform, which empowered enterprises to collect payments from anywhere in the world. It later pivoted to a cross-border real-estate solutions provider, which aims to reduce/eliminate reliance on intermediaries such as agents, brokers, and other marketing channels and connect customers/buyers directly to property developers. This will simplify the KYC (Know Your Customer) process and validate both property developers and buyers and secure transactions for both parties.
The company claims it achieved profitability in May 2017.
The startup is currently in the midst of launching AQwire, a blockchain-powered multi-listing platform to help brokers and property developers sell their units to foreign buyers. “AQwire empowers brokers and property developers to have access to international property buyers. The blockchain allows us to validate projects for investors, verify buyers, validate transactions, and be able to list to different listing sites worldwide using out multi-listing platform,” CEO Refundo told e27.
The firm is launching an ICO crowdsale to raise US$9.9 million to build AQwire. ICO is on track for March 26 with a pre-sale event happening on March 12, 2017.
“We are offering 99 million tokens. We do expect some whales to participate in our token sale, but no commitments from major corporations yet. That said, we would like property developers or big real estate firms to participate,” Refundo said.
“We’ll use the funds to continue to build and improve our platform, for network expansion, and to expand overseas. We plan to scale AQwire globally within three years,” he added.
The Philippines is one of the countries that have imposed strict measures on ICO, but Refundo says his company is complying with the regulations. “Our lawyer is working with the Security Exchange Commission. One of the things we’ll do when we launch the token is to make it useful immediately, not in the distant future. This will make it difficult for the SEC to classify it as security,” he concluded .
The post Philippines cross-border billing startup Qwikwire raises funding from First Asia Venture Capital, Cerebro Labs appeared first on e27.