Philippines falls in global startup index for 4th year in a row

The Philippines dropped four spots in the 2025 Global Startup Ecosystem Index amid persistent gaps in infrastructure and regulations, according to global research firm StartupBlink.

In this year’s index, the Philippines slipped to 64th place out of 100 countries with a score of 2.237.

This was the fourth straight year of decline for the Philippines, which ranked 52nd in 2021, 57th in 2022, 59th in 2023 and 60th in 2024.

“The ecosystem growth of the Philippines is around 0.56% this year, and it’s being overtaken even by locations that are also decreasing in the rankings,” StartupBlink Head of Data & Consulting Ghers Fisman said.

Funding by Year

The Philippines’ annual ecosystem growth rate was the lowest in Southeast Asia.

To increase the Philippines’ score, Mr. Fisman said the process of establishing a startup at the business level should be easier. He also noted the importance of faster and wider internet access for Philippine entrepreneurs.

The Global Startup Ecosystem Index evaluates startup ecosystems across 100 countries and 1,000 cities, using scores that assess the quantity and quality of startups and their existing business environment.

“The Philippines is making progress toward becoming a formidable startup ecosystem in the Asia-Pacific region,” StartupBlink said in the report.

The Philippines received total funding of $273.6 million (around P15.22 billion) last year, according to the report.

“The Philippines’ startup ecosystem is anchored by robust sectors such as fintech (financial technology), e-commerce, healthtech, edtech, and software-as-a-service. This diversification is propelled by a large digital consumer base and increasing regional demand,” it said.

StartupBlink noted the Philippines’ attractiveness to foreign entrepreneurs and digital nomads “should allow for successful ecosystem growth — provided more of the local population embraces entrepreneurship.”

The Philippines has six cities in the global top 1,000, led by Manila.

Manila ranked 112th globally, dropping 11 spots from the previous year. It also dropped to 6th place in Southeast Asia rankings and was the only city to see a decline.

“The Philippines’ startup scene remains centralized in Manila, whose ecosystem is twelve times larger than Cebu City’s. This gap has more than doubled since 2020,” StartupBlink said.

However, Manila had the lowest ecosystem annual growth rate among cities in the Philippines at 2.6%.

Cebu City fell 10 spots globally to rank 469th, with an annual growth rate of 9%.

Davao City rose 163 spots to 580th spot globally, as its startup ecosystem grew by 97.7% last year.

Cagayan de Oro and Naga climbed the global rankings at 693rd and 767th, respectively.

New entrants to the global rankings include Iloilo City (744th), Cauayan City, Isabela (1,040th), and Solana City in Cagayan (1,170th).

“The Philippines stands as Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing digital economy, reflecting a dynamic consumer market ripe for innovative startups,” StartupBlink  said.

However, the Philippines faces several challenges that are hampering its development as a mature startup ecosystem.

“The lack of infrastructure is a limiting factor to the country’s economic growth, and entrepreneurs struggle with slow regulatory support for their startups,” it added.

John Paolo R. Rivera, senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, said the country’s continued decline in the global startup rankings reflect structural gaps in the ecosystem.

“Improving our rank will depend not on isolated programs but on building a dynamic innovation ecosystem with strong interlinkages across the government, academe, industry, and startup founders themselves,” he said.

Key gaps in the local startup scene include poor early-stage funding support, uneven regional startup development, regulatory bottlenecks, and a “brain drain” of digital and entrepreneurial talent, Mr. Rivera said.

To address this, the Philippine government must adequately fund and fully implement the Philippine Startup Development Program, reduce bureaucratic red tape, and harmonize startup registrations and incentives, he added.

Venture capitalists and the private sector should also expand early-stage funding, mentorship, and link Filipino startups to global markets. Academic institutions can support student-founded ventures through incubation, intellectual property protection, and seed grants, Mr. Rivera said.

Source: Business World

Clarity sought on ‘green’ energy project economics

While financing is readily available for green energy projects in the Philippines, the industry requires a clearer pathway to profitability to strengthen the investment argument, according to ACEN Corp.

“I’m a little surprised by the assumption that climate financing in general is not available, right? Because there is a lot, certainly,” Miguel de Jesus, ACEN managing director and chief operations officer, said at the BusinessWorld Economic Forum: Unlocking Philippines’ Potential.

“I think a lot… has to do with getting the economics right on how to enable these energy transition opportunities,” he added.

Mr. De Jesus said developers and their financial backers have yet to see clarity on the revenue streams to be generated by energy-transition projects.

“At the end of the day, the banks want certainty of payment, right? And what’s important therefore is to ensure that (these projects have robust) revenue stream,” he said.

ACEN, the listed energy platform of the Ayala group, has initiated the early retirement of the 246-megawatt (MW) South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp., a coal-fired power complex.

The company has a target of scaling up its renewable energy capacity to 20 gigawatts 

(GW) by 2030.

Vincent Martin C. Villegas, senior vice-president and chief revenue officer of First Gen Corp., said the liberalization of foreign ownership rules will help accelerate the development of renewables.

“We can now have 100% foreign investors, which is a big thing,” he said.

Mr. Villegas noted the high levels of risk in geothermal exploration, where First Gen, through its subsidiary Energy Development Corp., is the industry leader.

Mr. Villegas said customers and generation companies are gravitating towards clean energy, adding: “It will take some time. It’s going to be a journey. But it’s a collaboration… That’s going to be an effort from across the entire country. But we’re quite hopeful. If you look at the targets, we think they are achievable,” he said.

First Gen, the power generation arm of the Lopez group, controls 3,668 MW in capacity from its portfolio of geothermal, wind, hydro, solar energy, and natural gas plants.

The company has set a capacity target of 13 GW by 2030.

Monalisa C. Dimalanta, chairperson and chief executive officer of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), said the industry is moving on from the old model where projects were deemed bankable if they signed up one major offtaker.

“This is where government agencies like ourselves and the DoE (Department of Energy) are helping out, in recalibrating the narrative for the financing sector,” Ms. Dimalanta said.

She said various cash flows can now be tapped by the developer, and not necessarily the traditional streams provided by a distribution utility.

Ms. Dimalanta said other potential revenue streams have been liberalized, such as selling to contestable customers under the Retail Competition and Open Access scheme, and participating in the Green Energy Auction Program.

Energy Undersecretary Rowena Cristina L. Guevara said the DoE is pursuing discussions with the Department of Finance (DoF) on initiatives like geothermal de-risking, total electrification, energy efficiency and conservation, and the hybridization program of the National Power Corp.

She said the DoE is in “advanced discussions” with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to obtain support for these programs next year.

Ms. Guevara said the energy transition should be “calculated and calibrated,” adding: “We don’t want to miss out on economic growth by suddenly turning off our coal-fired power plants.”

Ms. Guevara said that the DoE is coming up with a coal transition policy, having received a presidential directive to ensure the Philippines can deliver on its Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris agreement.

The Philippines hopes to increase the share of renewable energy in its power generation mix to 35% by 2030 and 50% by 2040.

Source: Business World

Housing policy lags as 28% of Filipino families are now in extended households

The Philippine government should reform its housing policies as more Filipinos live with extended families — a sign that traditional family structures are shifting, according to the Philippines Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).

About 29% of Filipino households are no longer the traditional nuclear type, as more relatives resort to cohabitation to share in housing and other costs, PIDS Supervising Research Specialist Tatum P. Ramos told a recent webinar.

“They have decided to join their relatives in a household to gain support in growing their own family or [to manage] living and housing expenses,” she said, based on a PIDS statement released on Wednesday.

A PIDS paper cited the significant link between wealth and the likelihood of living in extended households.

“An extended family setup offers a resource-sharing opportunity and provides support for working young female adults who may not necessarily have the same amount of time for household management activities as before,” PIDS said.

Rising housing prices, especially in Metro Manila and in key cities, have forced households to share living spaces with relatives, Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said.

“[There’s also the] lack of mass transport or train systems that would allow more Filipinos to live farther from central business districts to nearby provinces where housing is cheaper,” he added.

“The low attainability of housing in the Philippines is resulting in lower household formation with the rise of extended and multi-family arrangements and nonfamily housing arrangements (living alone or living with nonrelatives),” Ms. Ramos and her co-authors Marife M. Ballesteros and Jenica A. Ancheta said in the study.

“Government efforts to address this issue through a market-driven strategy should be reviewed, and housing affordability issues have to be closely examined,” they added.

Housing prices in the Philippines rose 6.7% in the fourth quarter of 2024 from a year earlier, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Mary Racelis, who teaches anthropology at the University of the Philippines, said housing policies should go beyond abstract models to address the lived experiences of the bottom 60% of the population — those who are underserved and priced out of formal housing markets.

She cited the need to understand the poor’s economic conditions to help design sustainable and inclusive housing plans.

“We should recognize that the informal settlers are not the problem, they are the solution,” she told the webinar, adding that informal settlers are not mere passive aid recipients.

Despite the wide membership of housing funds like the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG), the uptake of government assistance for housing finance remains limited, said Kevin Godoy, chief development specialist at the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development.

“Only 4% have government assistance as a financing source… considering that Pag-IBIG had 16 million members in 2024,” he pointed out.

He cited the importance of transport infrastructure, noting that long commutes rather than urban congestion alone are a major barrier to homeownership and household formation.

Mr. Godoy also sought the creation of a national rental housing program.

“We’re the only country in Southeast Asia that does not have a national program on public rental,” he said, noting how local governments have been left to experiment with rental solutions on their own in the absence of a national framework.

The Philippines faces a housing deficit of 6.5 million units, which could rise to 22 million by 2040 if not addressed, according to the United Nations Human Settlements Program.

Source: Business World