TBC News

Tag: Philippines

  • Moneybees taps ACM for new crypto buy and sell service

    Moneybees taps ACM for new crypto buy and sell service

    Moneybees also eyes to integrate crypto buy and sell with the GoVIPx app.

    To cater to the increasing demand for over-the-counter transactions for cryptocurrency users in the Philippines, Moneybees has partnered with ACM Business Solution Inc. to roll out crypto buy and sell services through its GoVIP centers. ACM has 1330 active outlets nationwide.

    Executives from Moneybees and ACM pose for a photograph

    The partnership widens Moneybees’ reach nationwide with recently opened GoVIP branches in Davao City, in Bato, Camarines Sur, and in Orani, Bataan.

    Moneybees, a BSP-certified Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP),  plans to continually roll out its OTC crypto transaction services with more GoVIP outlets in key cities nationwide. By the end of 2022, they plan to integrate its buy and sell services with GoVIP’s app, GoVIPx.

    Traders and investors can choose from hundreds of cryptos to buy and sell, including bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), USD Tether (USDT), and Smooth Love Potion (SLP). Each client can also easily buy and sell up to P5,000,000 daily.

    Crypto holders can buy and sell their crypto to Moneybees using almost any crypto wallet or crypto exchange account they prefer, such as Coins.ph, Coinbase, PDax, Metamask, Binance, Electrum, Trust Wallet, and Exodus, among others.

    “Moneybees, first and foremost, is focused on advocating for the crypto consumer. With our partnership with GoVIP centers and its far-reaching network, we’re creating additional venues for trading cryptocurrencies while enabling greater convenience, security, and ease of transacting for all our clients,” Moneybees CEO Paulo Roberto del Puerto said.

    In a recent report by Finder Crypto, 28% of Filipinos claimed they own a cryptocurrency, which ranks the Philippines 5th worldwide. With the increasing number of Filipino users, Moneybees’ mission is to make crypto more accessible by providing a familiar and secure way of buying and selling via OTC transactions.

    “The impact of financial technology is widespread, disrupting how companies do business and how individuals handle day-to-day transactions — from banking to paying bills, insurance to loans, and personal finance to wealth management,” ACM Business Solution Inc. Business Development Unit Head Guia Ana Malimban said.

    “With GoVIPCenter’s relentless pursuit of improving the lives of Filipinos and making the exchange between currencies and digital currencies more accessible to many, we aim to extend Moneybees’ services nationwide to enable traders to buy and sell digital assets. This partnership with Moneybees expands GoVIPCenter’s offering while cementing its leadership as a one-stop shop for financial services,” Malimban added.

    Founded in 2014, ACM Business Solution Inc. is a web-based business solution providing the underserved and unserved population access to Financial Services. In 2017, ACM started offering financial services to the public: the bills payment, remittance, government payment, airtime loading, and electronic money issuance. ACM launched the GoVIPCenter in 2021 being the backbone of every VIP outlet, wherein drop off points and microinsurances were introduced.

    Founded in 2017, Moneybees is the first Cryptocurrency over-the-counter service in the Philippines, making the exchange between currencies and digital currencies more accessible to many. It provides the technology to moneychanger companies with physical outlets to accept and facilitate cryptocurrency transactions in their shops without the risk of market volatility.

    Moneybees Forex Corporation is registered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and with the Anti Money Laundering Council (AMLC) as VASP.

    Moneybees only partners with government-licensed remittance centers and money changers to facilitate transactions. It aims to grow its services nationwide by partnering with more outlets in major cities to expand its footprint in the Philippines.

  • Multitasking made easy with Oppo’s A76 midranger

    Multitasking made easy with Oppo’s A76 midranger

    Looking for the perfect all-rounder productivity and multimedia smartphone?

    Nowadays, the world is in the palm of everyone’s hands. If you’re looking for a go-to device for your daily multitasking at home or in the office, check out the OPPO A76, from global smart device brand OPPO. This smartphone can help you achieve effortless productivity as it’s packed with features that we’ve known and loved from the OPPO A series and much more!

    For a seamless mobile experience to aid your daily responsibilities, the OPPO A76 is equipped with the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 680 4G Mobile Platform, complemented with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of ROM. It also has a RAM Expansion feature to ensure users a smooth performance even when multitasking.

    The OPPO A76 can deliver all the power required for your nine-to-five with its 5000mAh battery. If you need to recharge after hours of screen time, then take advantage of its 33W SUPERVOOC fast-charging feature. With only five minutes of charging, you can enjoy three hours and 47 minutes of phone calls or 62 minutes of WhatsApp video calls.

    OPPO A76 runs the ColorOS 11.1 operating system to deliver a smoother and more intuitive user experience in your daily grind. It features System Booster to guarantee your phone’s overall smoothness, Link Boost 2.0 to ensure that your device’s network properly functions as you attend online meetings, Flexdrop to allow a seamless transition between your applications, and many more.

    This smartphone also showcases a 6.56-inch Color-Rich Punch-Hole Display with a 720×1612 HD+ resolution, 89.9% screen-to-body ratio, and a 90Hz refresh rate. Available in Glowing Black and Glowing Blue, it also has an 8MP Front Camera and a 13MP Main Camera with a 2MP Bokeh Camera

    With these exciting features, the OPPO A76 is truly a bang for the buck, especially for those looking for a smartphone worthy of your hard-earned money and can keep up with your daily lifestyle. You can get this all-around device that supports efficiency for just Php 11,999.

    Grab yours now via the nearest OPPO Brand Store or partner dealers so you can start achieving effortless productivity every day. You can also shop through OPPO Flagship Stores on Shopee and Lazada!

    To know more about the OPPO A76, visit OPPO Philippines’ official website at https://www.oppo.com/ph/ or its official Facebook page at OPPO Philippines.

  • InterVenn Biosciences launches local site in the Philippines

    InterVenn Biosciences launches local site in the Philippines

    The Filipino-founded biotech firm brings GLORI and DAWN to our shores

    InterVenn Biosciences Philippines solidified its hold in the Southeast Asian region with the grand launch of its state-of-the-art office in the heart of Ortigas center, Pasig City last Friday, July 22, 2022.

    While the company is headquartered in the Bay Area of San Francisco, California, the team that maintains the AI technology are made up mostly of Filipinos residing in the Philippines, from which its co-founder and CEO, Aldo Carrascoso, also hails.

    “InterVenn has made significant progress in early cancer detection thanks to the brilliant and dedicated Filipino engineers we have on board. They help build and maintain the front end, back end, and cloud infrastructure of our next-generation liquid biopsy,” Carrascoso said, when discussing how its products GLORI™ and DAWN™ came to be.

    The new site located at the Podium West Tower will expand the local team’s roster of developers and engineers that form the backbone running the proprietary AI technology used in the company’s research.

    Currently, over 100 Filipinos work on the software engineering stream of InterVenn, with plans to recruit more local talent as they further expand their business in the region. 

    “We started this venture with the goal of not just having the means of finding a cure and early detection for cancer, but to also showcase to everyone that we Filipinos can achieve this on a global scale,” said InterVenn Philippines General Manager Axel Kornerup.

    The company, armed with its new facilities and cadre of researchers, have been aggressive in its recruitment and expansion to support the development and commercialization of DAWN™, which they unveiled last month in the health industry’s largest conference for oncology ASCO 2022.

    “Our research is a major step towards a truly universal healthcare. We’re proud to be making these phenomenal developments in the Philippines, and we look forward to working with more local stakeholders in the future,” said Carrascoso.

  • LG UltraGear empowers the Philippine Navy’s Naval Air Wing

    LG UltraGear empowers the Philippine Navy’s Naval Air Wing

    The UltraGear 32GN500 is a beast, featuring an unbeatable 165Hz refresh rate and HDR10 with sRGB.

    Global tech innovator LG recently donated top-of-the-line UltraGear monitors worth over PhP 600,000 to the Philippine Navy to help modernize its display solutions.

    Thirty LG UltraGear 32GN500 monitor units were given to the Naval Air Wing of the Philippine Fleet, which will be used in their flight simulation rooms to display lectures, flight deck videos, flight monitoring for Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance, Airborne ISR and Humanitarian and Disaster Response missions, and so on.

    In a recent aviation-themed event, the South Korean tech company introduced its newest line of monitors to the Philippine market.

    This includes the massive 48” UltraGear UHD OLED and the 32” UltraGear UHD 4K, the versatile LG Dual Up 28MQ780-B with Ergo stand, and others.

    One of the monitors featured was the LG UltraGear 32GN500, which was used together with a flight simulation rig. The monitor donation to the Philippine Navy was announced during the event.

    LG Managing Director Sungjae Kim was elated with the new partnership, saying “It is a great opportunity for us to partner with the Naval Air Wing of the Philippine Fleet. We wholeheartedly support those in service of the country. We hope our small donation goes a long way in providing real-world applications for their training”.

  • Tower of Fantasy arrives this August 10!

    Tower of Fantasy arrives this August 10!

    Have you heard of the upcoming ‘Genshin Impact’-killer?

    Publisher Level Infinite and developer Hotta Studio has offiicially announced that the hit open-world RPG, Tower of Fantasy will open pre-load on August 9th and launch globally on PC and mobile on August 10th.

    Over 3 million players have already signed up for the game at the Official Tower of Fantasy website, make sure you have too so you can score amazing and exclusive freebies!

    Set hundreds of years in the future after humanity has escaped the collapsing environment of earth and fled to the distant planet of Aida, the open-world action of Tower of Fantasy has been a hit with gamers in China, and soon gamers in the rest of the world will get to join in on the thrilling action.

    Players will be able to experience an anime-inspired post-apocalyptic sci-fi art style, freeform character development, immersive objectives, and exciting combat through thrilling battles and exciting open world exploration.  

    The global release finally arrives after two closed beta tests where fans got a sneak peek at the build. Players were awed by Tower of Fantasy’s in-depth character customization tool, exciting weapon-based action, shared open world exploration with friends, and compelling narrative.

    Recently, fans noticed something strange happening on Tower of Fantasy’s official twitter; it sent a mysterious garbled message on July 26, causing some to believe maybe the account was hacked.

    But keen-eyed fans noticed some hidden Morse code in the message, and curious wanderers set about decoding the mysterious information.

    In a life meets art moment, the cause of the secret message was the Omnium tower being disturbed, spinning the official account in our world out of control. Does this mean the world of Aida is beginning its descent into ours?

    This is an event rooted in the world view of the Tower of Fantasy. After entering the game, more stories about the Planet Aida will unfold for Wanderers.

    Tower of Fantasy is still open for pre-registration at the official site, as well as on Steam, Epic Game Store, the App Store and Google Play.

  • Do you know about foodpanda’s ‘dark store’?

    Do you know about foodpanda’s ‘dark store’?

    The growth of e-commerce and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a significant uptick in the demand for online grocery delivery services. And with it comes the emergence of a new player that is changing the landscape of grocery shopping and retail commerce as we know it: dark stores.

    For some who are not yet familiar, “dark” stores are generally warehouses used to store products and items that will cater specifically to online grocery shopping. And leading this space in the Asia Pacific and the Philippines in particular, is pandamart, powered by online quick-commerce platform foodpanda.

    According to foodpanda’s Director of New Verticals Karan Bhaskar, they are the pioneers of the dark store business model having been the first to introduce the concept in the Philippines. “When we first brought pandamart to the Philippines in 2020, we changed the rules of e-grocery shopping in the country. Two years later, we continue to be a leader in the industry as the biggest online grocery shopping platform with more than 40 warehouses all over the country.”

    “What separates us and makes us unique is not just that we are the first and the biggest – we also have control over the entire ecosystem. We have our own warehouses where we curate, store and pick inventory. In addition, the grocery platform is ours and we are also the ones who do the delivery.”

    “We are committed to bringing much loved grocery products closer to our Filipino consumers and solidify our position as the biggest grocery delivery service in the country. That’s why aside from major cities in the Metro, we have also expanded the areas where our warehouses are located to include, Baguio in Luzon as well as Cebu and Davao in VisMin.”

    Karan also shared that having access throughout the end-to-end ecosystem has allowed them to deliver quickly and efficiently. “In pandamart, what the customers see on the app is the actual inventory because we have a real-time overview of the stock-keeping units (SKU’s)  in our warehouses.”

    Offering a one-stop shop for all food and essential needs, pandamart continues to dominate the grocery delivery scene with over 5,000+ daily essentials such as groceries, fresh produce, household items, beauty products, and more where you can have everything delivered in less than an hour after ordering.

    Available in the foodpanda app under the “pandamart” tab, online shoppers can browse for items and products.  Afterwards, a designated person or what they call as “pickers” will get the items you selected. The order will then be received by your assigned Ka-Panda rider which will be delivered to your doorstep in as fast as 25 minutes.

    Karan also noted some interesting consumer buying behavior that they have noticed. “Despite quick commerce being seen as mainly to fulfill consumers’ impulse needs like snacks, it’s interesting to see that there are orders like the ones you usually buy in physical retail stores such as fruits, vegetables, meat and baby/child and pantry essentials, among others .”

    foodpanda’s Director of New Verticals also shared that pandamart currently houses hundreds of brands ranging from big names in the industry to small and medium enterprises. Some of their partners include leading brands from Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and Universal Robina Corporation (URC). On the other hand, pandamart has also tapped into Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

    “Some of the MSMEs that we have partnered with offer the not-so typical grocery items that you would get from an e-grocery platform. Those shops include Blooms Artisan where you can get beautifully curated dried flowers and Best Fresh for fresh fruits and vegetables,“ Karan says.

    “Being able to house both big-time companies and MSMEs in the app allows us to provide a variety of choices that would fit whatever it is our shoppers are looking for. In the end, it is ultimately the Filipino shopper who should win with a choice that is tailor fit for their preference.”

    “We have also seen how assisting MSMEs can help them gain more exposure in our app so one of our goals moving forward is to partner with local jewels in the months ahead,” he added.

    As the demand for safe and convenient access to groceries grew, they have also seen an increase in the usage of pandamart especially during the heightened pandemic restrictions. “We now get 5x as many customers compared to when we started back in October of 2020. What’s also noteworthy is that even with the easing of restrictions, consumers continue to believe in the benefits of groceries being delivered in the safety and convenience of their homes.”

    Seeing as how the industry could still grow in the future, foodpanda is looking at expanding to include more warehouses in other areas and locations across the country as well as onboard more partners, especially MSMEs.

    “We are seeing more and more consumers switching to online means for their grocery shopping. So yes, we would continue to work towards improving our offering in the efforts to make this a sustainable and rewarding experience for our consumers in the coming months. ”