Gorriceta’s Law x Tech and Capital Summit brings together PH industry leaders in tech and fintech with lawyers from Dechert LLP

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Philippine law firm Gorriceta Africa Cauton & Saavedra held its fourth and final Law and Tech Summit at Shangri-La, Fort, Bonifacio Global City on 10-11. November. The event, titled “Metamorphosis: Unlocking transformation through Investment, Innovation, and Law,” is a unique gathering of top industry leaders, top technology companies, and public sector officials who shared their valuable insights on interoperability for investment, breakthroughs, and policies.

The two-day summit aims to bring together all sectors to work together and pursue the firm’s mission of merging law and technology, while coming up with solution-based dialogues that will contribute to further innovation of the country’s fintech ecosystem.

The government’s support was evident at the summit when Senator Sonny Angara, an 18-year lawmaker who sponsored and authored 330 laws, gave the opening speech. The senator, who is also chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, specified the country’s continuous efforts to enact laws that will make the Philippines a favorable region for investment attributable to low tax rates and investment incentives. He mentioned that 2021 was a watershed year for investment as the country saw a significant increase in deals from $47 million in 2017 to over $1 billion in 2021.

Senator Angara pointed out that this year’s start-up investments accounted for 12% of the total foreign direct investment or FDI in the Philippines. Startup companies such as KUMU, GrowSari, CloudEats, Tonik, Coins.ph, NextPay, Avion, DashLab, MadEats and Hive Health are some of the companies being held responsible for the positive development. He cited a Bloomberg article referring to the Philippines as Southeast Asia’s best-kept MNA secret.

Senator Angara was also keen to mention the eagerness of the administration of President Ferdinand Bong Bong Marcos “to invite investors to come over and reap the benefits of recent efforts by the government and the private sector to work together to make the business climate more favorable.”

Day one of the summit delved into Private Equity, Venture Capital and Fundraising. The first panel discussion brought together representatives from leading venture capital firms in the country. The panelists included Paulo Campos III, Managing General Partner Kaya Founders, an early-stage investment vehicle that invests in the next generation of high-impact entrepreneurs in the country and co-founder of Zalora PH; Nico Sibal, Foxmont Capital Partners Director Portfolio Management; and Winchell Wong, Gentree Fund Associate. The panelists were joined by Atty Edcel Tupaz, Gorriceta Partner, and Atty Timothy Goh, Dechert Partner, to shed light on the legal and regulatory framework.

Atty. Mark Gorriceta, Gorriceta’s managing partner who moderated the discussion, emphasized the importance of imparting his knowledge of Philippine law and regulatory landscape in technology and fintech, as well as conducting proper fundraising. Campos, meanwhile, noted that the Philippines’ strategic geographic location and strong acceleration of consumer and digital adoption trends ahead of other Southeast Asian countries is what makes the country a viable location for VCs.

The second panel discussion emphasized effective ways of conducting ethical fundraising. The distinguished panelists come from various venture capital and private equity firms that have raised millions of dollars in investments. Panelists include Alasdair Thomson from Sierra Madre, Robert Yu from Creador and Juan Carlos Camera from Navegar. Representatives of the legal side of the spectrum are Atty. Thomas Kim from Dechert and Atty Kristine Torres from Goricetta.

Dechert Atty. Dean Collins moderated the discussion and emphasized the robust growth in Southeast Asian fundraising. However, he also noted that the Philippines VC and PE market is relatively nascent compared to other countries in the Southeast Asian region.

Atty Torres agreed and suggested ways to attract more foreign direct investment in the country. She noted that continued support from government agencies regarding investment policies, as well as enabling favorable investment license and regulatory framework, are crucial factors in driving investment interest in the Philippines.

Thomson also made a good point by saying, “development finance institutions are critical to making these things happen, that’s part of their mission, trying to develop capital markets in developing countries.”

In the third panel discussion, Atty. Gorriceta returned as moderator to discuss successful fundraising with an impressive lineup of speakers that included George Royeca, CEO of Angkas; Mark Velasquez, CFO of Kumu; Steve Sy, CEO of Great Deals and Reymund Erwin Rollan, CEO of Growsari. Joining the panel discussions is Dechert’s Atty. Maria Pedersen and Atty. Siew Kam Boon.

Atty. Gorriceta worked closely with the aforementioned companies to obtain their licenses as well as fundraise for them. In the discussion, the Gorriceta lawyer reminded the audience to join Day 2 of the summit, which will include technology and fintech companies such as Union Digital, GoTym and Open Finance, among others.

See: Is the Philippines Asia’s New Blockchain Capital? DITO’s Donald Lim shares his thoughts

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