GCash
 | |
| Product type | Mobile payments/ Digital wallet |
|---|---|
| Owner | Mynt (formerly Globe Fintech Innovations Inc., a venture of Alipay, Ayala Group and Globe Group) |
| Country | Philippines |
| Introduced | 2004 |
| Markets | Philippines |
| Website | www |
GCash by Alipay, commonly referred to as GCash, is a Philippine mobile wallet, mobile payments and branchless banking service. Introduced in 2004, it is owned by Mynt (formerly Globe Fintech Innovations, Inc.), which is a joint venture between Ant Group, an affiliate company of the Alibaba Group and the operator of the world's leading open digital lifestyle platform, Alipay; Ayala Group of Companies, one of the Philippines' largest business conglomerates; and Globe Group, one of the Philippines' largest telecommunications companies (Mynt is listed as a subsidiary of 917Ventures).
As of 2019, it had 20 million active users and more than 63,000 partner merchants in the Philippines.[1] However, in two years, owing to the rise of digital payments in the Philippines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these figures more than doubled, with 46 million active users and 2.5 million merchants and sellers as of August 2021, making GCash the country's undisputed mobile wallet giant.[2] As of May 2022, it has more than 60 million users.[3]
History
GCash by Alipay was first launched by Globe Telecom as GCash in October 2004 offering SMS-based domestic money transfer that does not require bank accounts or cards considering 80% of the Philippine population were unbanked or underbanked at the time. Users were allowed to convert their cash to e-money via cash-in and cash-out outlets like sari-sari stores with a transaction fee of ₱1.00.[4][5]
In 2012, the GCash app was launched as a move to transition from cash-in and cash-out outlets to a fully cashless system.[6]
In 2017, GCash, along with competitor mobile wallet PayMaya, partnered with Facebook to integrate its services with Facebook Messenger.[7]
In 2020, GCash partnered with Philippine Seven Corporation allowing the use of the GCash app to pay in 7-Eleven branches via barcode throughout the country. 7-Eleven also has its own CLIQQ Wallet system for cashless transactions and its branches are one of the cash-in locations for GCash users.[8][9][10] Later that year, GCash partnered with another convenience store chain, Ministop, to add more cash-in locations in the Philippines.[11]
On July 25, 2021, GCash announced that its remittance service, GCash Padala, is now available to non-app users through its 2,000 partners nationwide.[12][13]
In November 2021, GCash's parent company, Mynt, announced that it raised $300M in funding at a $2B valuation, making Mynt a Philippine double unicorn.[14][15][16]
In August 2022, GCash Jr., which is designed for users aged 7 to 17, was launched.[17]
Issues
On January 11, 2022, the GCash mobile application and its services were briefly interrupted due to a power outage that lasted for four hours.[18]
References
- ^ "GCash is building a cashless ecosystem. As of 2019, GCash has 20 million users with more than 63,000 partner merchants across the country". GCash. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
- ^ Mercurio, Richmond (August 19, 2021). "GCash monthly gross transactions hit P300 billion". The Philippine Star. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "GCash tops 60M users despite rival's digital bank license". CNN Philippines. May 24, 2022. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
- ^ Unsworth, Adam (July 17, 2010). "Case Study – GCash".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Mobile Money in the Philippines: The Market, the Models and Regulation. GSMA.
- ^ "Coins.ph, GCash, GrabPay, PayMaya: Who's leading the mobile payments war in PH?". Rappler. April 2, 2019.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "GCash, PayMaya take in Facebook Messenger for money transactions". GMA News. September 22, 2017.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Abad, Roderick (February 29, 2020). "7-Eleven partners with GCash for cashless transactionS". BusinessMirror.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Dumlao-Abadilla, Doris (February 24, 2020). "GCash, 7-Eleven team up in cashless race". Philippine Daily Inquirer.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Mercurio, Richmond (February 23, 2020). "7-Eleven, GCash team up for barcode transactions". The Philippine Star.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Team Orange (September 21, 2022). "GCash, Ministop partner to increase cash-in locations nationwide". Orange Magazine. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
- ^ Balinbin, Arjay (July 26, 2021). "GCash expands money transfer service to non-app users". BusinessWorld. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
- ^ Medilo, Luis Reginaldo. "How to Send Money to Non-GCash Users with GCash Padala". Tech Pilipinas. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
- ^ Abadilla, Emmie (November 2, 2021). "Mynt, PH's only unicorn gets $300-M funding". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
- ^ "Mynt becomes first fintech Unicorn in the Philippines with $300 million fund raise". Finextra. November 5, 2021. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
- ^ Dumlao-Abadilla, Doris (November 2, 2021). "Mynt, fintech firm behind GCash, reaches 'double unicorn' status". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
- ^ MB Technews (August 10, 2022). "Be ready to discover bigger things with your first e-wallet, GCash Jr". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
- ^ "GCash says app, services restored after 4-hour outage". ABS-CBN News. January 11, 2022. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
