Philippines’ Salmon Raises US$140 Million to Scale App Credit and Motorcycle Loans
Salmon, a Manila-based lender that runs its own rural bank, has secured US$140 million (about PHP8.8 billion) in fresh funding to grow its credit business in the Philippines. The package mixes US$90 million committed by investors with US$50 million raised through bonds, and it will pay for bigger credit lines, in-store financing and new loans for motorcycles and small businesses.
Key facts
- US$140 million in new funding, announced on 19 October 2026: US$90 million committed by Spice Expeditions, Washington University Investment Management Company (WashU) and Moore Strategic Ventures, plus US$50 million from a bond issue.
- Salmon operates Salmon Bank (Rural Bank) Inc., licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Philippine central bank, and Salmon Finance Inc., a financing company licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- The money will scale the Salmon Credit Line and in-store lending, which the company says are profitable, and fund a nationwide roll-out of motorcycle and MSME loans.
- Founded in July 2022, Salmon says its mobile app has passed 9 million downloads.
What Salmon actually does
Salmon is a consumer-credit business built around a phone app. Customers can get a revolving credit line, a borrowing limit they can draw on and repay over and over, or take out financing at the till when buying goods in partner stores. That in-store product works much like the point-of-sale instalment plans that shoppers across Southeast Asia know as “buy now, pay later” (BNPL).
The company says an AI-powered credit engine checks applicants in minutes, including people with little or no formal credit history. This group is large in the Philippines, where many workers are self-employed or paid in cash and so leave few records a traditional bank can use to judge risk.
The group holds two licences. The rural bank licence from the BSP lets it take deposits and offer banking services under central bank supervision. Salmon Finance holds a separate licence from the SEC, which oversees financing and lending companies in the Philippines. Holding both gives Salmon a deposit-taking arm as well as a dedicated lending vehicle.
The company was founded by Pavel Fedorov, George Chesakov and Raffy Montemayor. In the announcement, Fedorov said everyday financial services in the Philippines still carry too much friction and that the firm is “doubling down” on the country because of its scale. Other backers named by the company include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group, Abu Dhabi’s ADQ/Lunate, and the venture firm Antler.
Why it matters
The deal comes while fintech funding across Southeast Asia remains tight and investors favour firms that can show a path to profit. A raise of this size for a lender that is less than four years old suggests backers are still willing to fund consumer credit when it is tied to a regulated bank and to products the company says already make money.
The new products are also telling. Motorcycles are a main way to get to work, deliver goods and run small businesses in the Philippines, so motorcycle loans touch daily income for many households. Loans for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) push Salmon from consumer lending into business credit, a market where many small firms still struggle to borrow from banks.
For the region, Salmon is part of a wider shift: app-based lenders are adding bank licences so they can fund loans with deposits rather than relying only on investor money. The risk is the same everywhere. Fast, data-driven lending to first-time borrowers can widen access to credit, but it can also lead to over-borrowing if affordability checks are weak, an issue regulators across Asia are watching closely as BNPL and instant credit spread.
What to watch
- Credit quality: whether Salmon publishes loan-book and repayment data as its motorcycle and MSME products scale nationwide.
- Deposits: how much the rural bank grows its deposit base to fund lending, compared with bonds and investor capital.
- Regulation: any tighter BSP or SEC rules on digital lending, interest rates or collection practices that could shape how fast app-based lenders expand.
Related on FinDeskAsia: Youth BNPL debt reaches RM2.4 billion in Malaysia and Salary Hero brings earned wage access to Malaysia.
Sources: DealStreetAsia (October 2026); ANI / PR Newswire company announcement (October 2026); The Manila Times newswire (October 2026).
