BillEase soars to new heights in 2023 with US$ 57M revenue, outperforms traditional banks with 47% ROE

BillEase, a leading consumer finance and buy now pay later app in the Philippines, announced exceptional growth in its preliminary unaudited financial report for 2023. The fintech company doubled its revenue to USD 57 million and generated a net income of USD 7 million after serving over 800,000 customers.

BillEase achieved a remarkable 2x growth in revenue and loan disbursements compared to the previous year, with a Return on Equity (ROE) of 47%, outperforming traditional banks in the Philippines, which typically have ROEs ranging from 5% to 15%. Its return on assets (ROA) stood at an impressive 14%, showcasing the company's efficient asset management and significant returns for its stakeholders.

BillEase's CEO and Co-Founder Georg Steiger commented: "Our success in 2023 can be attributed to three key factors: offering a top-priority product for our customers – lending with good terms, building long-term relationships with our partners and customers, and maintaining efficient operations and risk management. While 2023 was a solid year that further proves our business model, we are even more excited for 2024 and beyond. As part of the growth plan, we are investing to further strengthen our team with the addition of senior roles in key departments. On the product side, we plan to launch new and innovative financial products while further integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into our operations. We also plan to continue expanding our reach, increasing engagement with our merchants and their customers, and developing BillEase as the lender of choice by our target customer."

BillEase became the first credit-focused fintech in the Philippines to integrate with Alipay+, enabling customers to use BillEase with global merchants like Agoda. BillEase is also available through major payment gateways and aggregators in the region, including Xendit, 2C2P, PayMongo, Paynamics, and iPay88. This enabled BillEase to increase its merchant network by more than 3x from over 3,000 in 2022 to over 10,000 in 2023. Additionally, BillEase introduced a bills payment feature, allowing customers a more flexible payment plan to pay utility bills like Meralco (electricity), Maynilad (water), and many others through its partnership with Bayad, a major payment collection system in the country.

In 2023, BillEase was awarded as the "Top Performing Financial Service Provider for Repayment Burden in Asia" by 60 Decibels in their annual Microfinance Index Survey Report. This recognition highlights the company's mission towards driving financial inclusion in the country while achieving a long-term sustainable and profitable growth business model.

As part of its funding strategy, BillEase is pursuing a Series C equity financing round that would unlock substantial capital to further accelerate the expansion of its consumer loan portfolio. This positions BillEase on a path to emerge as one of the Philippines' largest and most disruptive consumer fintechs within the next 3 to 5 years. BillEase raised USD 11 million in Series B funding led by BurdaPrincipal Investments, the growth capital arm of Hubert Burda Media in 2022. Other investors included Centauri (backed by Telkom Indonesia and KB Investment), 33 Capital, and Raisin DS CEO Tamaz Georgadze. BillEase's total equity raised reached around USD 15 million.