About Us

Investing in the New Wave of Entrepreneurs in the Philippines

The Gobi-Core Philippine Fund, established in 2018, resulted from a joint venture between founding partners Jason Gaisano, Ken Ngo, and Carlo Chen-Delantar with Pan-Asian VC, Gobi Partners. Headquartered in Manila, Philippines, it serves as Gobi’s official Philippine office. The Gobi-Core Philippine Fund strategically invests in technology and technology-enabled startups across the country.

Gobi-Core has invested in leading startups like Tier One Entertainment, Kumu, Etaily, and CloudEats through a multi-investment stack approach, building market leaders in the Philippines and ASEAN. Gobi-Core guides and springboards its local champions across Gobi Partners’ 15-country Asian presence, with the majority of its portfolio expanding regionally.

In 2023, Gobi-Core became the first Co-Investment Partner of the Philippine government’s Startup Venture Fund (SVF), as per the Innovative Startup Act (RA 11337). The SVF can match investments by selected investors in startups at various stages based in the Philippines. This fund is a joint effort by the Department of Trade and Industry and the National Development Company to fuel investments and innovation in the Philippine startup ecosystem.

“Since our founding in 2002, Gobi Partners’ core investment philosophy has been to support tech entrepreneurs in emerging and underserved markets. In the past 18 years, we have backed world-class founders that have built category-defining companies, resulted in 9 unicorns (valued at $US1 B+), and enabled us to generate consistent outsized returns.

From the Gobi to the Kalahari,”

Thomas G. Tsao

WHY THE PHILIPPINES?

It is ripe for a digital transformation –with a young population median (age of 25.8 years old), an emerging middle class, high internet and mobile penetration (68 M), improving infrastructure and increasing interest in tech entrepreneurship and development.

WHY NOW?

Old inefficiency problems are now being solved with new technology. The pandemic has accelerated and magnified the need for digital solutions –most of which are already available in other countries.