MANILA, Philippines – Endeavor Philippines welcomed two more successful entrepreneurs into its fold to help spur development in the Philippines through high-impact entrepreneurship. Financial technology entrepreneur Mikko Perez of Ayannah and cacao producer Simon Bakker of Kennemer Foods International became the 9th and 10th Philippine-based high-impact entrepreneurs during Endeavor's 69th International Selection Panel (ISP) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in late February, Endeavor announced on Friday, March 3.

Two Philippine-based entrepreneurs—a Filipino financial technology (fintech) founder and a Dutch cacao producer—made it to the roster of Endeavor, a global nonprofit that supports high-impact entrepreneurs around the world. Mikko Perez of Ayannah and Simon Bakker of Kennemer were handpicked as the 9th and 10th Philippine-based high-impact entrepreneurs at Endeavor’s 69th international selection panel held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Ayannah, the leading provider of affordable and accessible digital financial services for emerging markets has partnered with Bayad Center, the bills payment subsidiary of Meralco, the Philippines’ largest electric utility to launch Juan Credit™, the first artificial intelligence-powered credit scoring system for the unbanked in emerging markets.

Financial technology startup Ayannah is looking forward to secure at least $5 million in its next funding round likely to be completed by April 2017. “We are in the middle of raising our next round. It was upsized to $5 million because of a surge in investor interest. We aim to close by April 2017,” said Ayannah founder and CEO Mikko Perez, in an exlusive interview with DEALSTREETASIA. The Philippine-based fintech firm provides digital commerce and payment services to migrants, especially the unbanked.