Investors are paying more attention to Philippine startups, but very little of that money reaches companies led by women. A new online directory from Kerubin Capital, a fund focused on women founders, is trying to close that gap by helping entrepreneurs and investors find each other.

A funding gap that starts with information

Philippine startups attracted about $1.5 billion in investment in 2025, roughly 19% of all startup funding in Southeast Asia, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Yet across the region, women-led startups have historically received less than 6% of venture capital, Kerubin Capital said in a statement.

Tina Di Cicco, Kerubin Capital's managing partner and CEO, sees much of the problem as one of visibility. "The gender financing gap in the Philippines is, in large part, an information gap," she said at the launch. In her view, investors who want to back women-led businesses and the founders who need that capital often move in different circles and simply never meet.

What the Gender-Smart Investing Map does

Launched in early October with support from Investing in Women, an initiative of the Australian government, the Gender-Smart Investing Map of the Philippines is a free, public directory paired with an interactive map. Kerubin describes it as the first of its kind in the country.

Listings are organized into five groups:

  • Investors: angel networks, venture capital and private equity firms, financial institutions and development finance institutions

  • Startups: companies that are women-owned or women-led, or whose products and services benefit women

  • Ecosystem: accelerators, incubators and programs that back women founders

  • Policy: government agencies, universities and research institutions

  • Corporations: companies working toward gender balance in leadership, procurement and capital

Users can search by organization, sector or keyword and see where each participant is based. Listings are reviewed against a published standard, and qualifying organizations can add themselves for free. More than 200 entities had already signed up around the time of the launch, the Inquirer reported.

To decide who counts as "gender-smart," the platform draws on the 2X Criteria. A company generally needs to meet at least two of four tests: majority ownership by women, women in at least 30% of leadership roles, a workforce that is 30% to 50% women, or products that disproportionately benefit women. That means some male-led businesses can be listed too.

Kerubin's catalytic model

Kerubin Capital was set up in 2021 with backing from the Manila Angel Investors Network, one of the country's largest private investor groups, and Investing in Women. It calls itself the Philippines' first dedicated catalytic capital fund for women founders, meaning it puts in patient, risk-tolerant money to encourage other investors to join. According to the company, every peso it invests has mobilized more than ₱3.30 in outside co-investment.

Di Cicco has cited data suggesting that gender-balanced organizations can outperform their peers financially by 20% to 25%. Over time, Kerubin hopes to lift women-led businesses' share of available capital closer to 30%.

What's next

For a woman founder in Cebu or Davao, the map could shorten a search for investors that once depended almost entirely on personal connections. Kerubin has described the Philippine directory as a proof of concept, with Vietnam among the Southeast Asian markets it is looking at next.

The directory is open to the public at kerubincapital.gendersmartinvestingmap.org, where organizations can also submit their details for review.