Fintech Holdings, a fintech startup founded by former Tinkoff execs, raises $16M to focus on Southeast Asia market

On February 24, Russia launched a full-scale military attack on Ukraine. Immediately after the invasion, the United States and Europe imposed hefty sanctions on Russia. The sanctions forced thousands of Russian banks and financial institutions to stop doing business with the West and also forced many western companies to divest their investments outside Russia.

One of the affected financial institutions is Russia’s biggest online lender Tinkoff, the second largest provider of credit cards in Russia, and is the world’s largest digital bank by customers. In March 2022, Tinkoff’s credit rating was withdrawn in compliance with sanctions the bank temporarily halted offering some loan products, forcing some of its employees to look for better opportunities.

George Chesakov, Pavel Fedorov, and Raffy Montemayor are three former executives at Tinkoff who left the bank in the second quarter to launch Fintech Holdings, a fintech startup focused on Southeast Asia.

Today, the trio announced they have raised $16 million in a Series A funding round to be directed towards the operational build-up of the venture, the acquisition of a bank in the Philippines (subject to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas approval), and the launch of services.

George Chesakov was also a co-founder of Tinkoff. Pavel Fedorov was a Co-Chief Executive Officer of Tinkoff in 2021-22, and Raffy Montemayor is a native of the Philippines and has more than 20 years of experience in the Philippine banking and tech sectors and will serve as the head of the new business in the Philippines.

“We are building a financial technology business that works impeccably 24×365, creating thousands of jobs and provides easy access to finance for millions of Filipinos,” Fintech Holdings said on its website.

In a statement, Raffy Montemayor said, “It is an exciting and truly watershed moment. Just a few months ago our business could fit on a coffee shop napkin, and today we have more than 30 people in our core team, which keeps growing by the day. We’re bringing cutting-edge, global fintech expertise to the Philippines, and we’re inspired by our vision of improving the lives of millions of Filipinos and making financial services simple, convenient, and truly accessible. Today’s announcement is a vote of confidence from a roster of world-class shareholders towards our vision and our team.”

Montemayor added: “Our future growth will have a particular focus on developing local Filipino tech talent. As a sign of our commitment to developing the local tech ecosystem, we plan to invest PHP10MM out of proceeds of the round towards developing, onboarding, and nurturing Filipino tech talent in partnership with our leading universities.”