UBX chief to utilize expertise in building-up start-ups as The Final Pitch Season 6 investor judge

UBX President and CEO John Januszczak has recently joined the latest season of long-running, entrepreneurial-themed reality show The Final Pitch as an investor judge. This marks the very first that a fintech company joins the show and reflects UBX's continuous efforts in accelerating MSME success by incubating start-up businesses in the Philippines.

As an investor judge, Januszczak brings to the judging table an expansive wealth of knowledge and expertise in building start-ups from the ground up, which comes from his experience in leading UBX in its mission to support the country’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and help them thrive in the digital economy.

As the fintech spinoff and corporate venture arm of Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank), UBX has been at the forefront of incubating start-ups and business ideas in the country by utilizing innovation and co-creation to deliver pioneering solutions that enable growth and expansion, empowering entrepreneurs and enabling their businesses to achieve their full potential.

Among these solutions is SeekCap, UBX’s online lending platform and the first online lending marketplace in the Philippines. Since its launch, SeekCap has processed over P1.5B worth of business loans and has helped more than 38,000 businesses, especially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when many of them needed financial support just to stay afloat.

There is also Sentro, the country’s first end-to-end e-commerce builder, which allows entrepreneurs to create their very own fully-featured online store even with little to zero tech know-how. More than 29,000 businesses in the country have successfully digitized their businesses thanks to Sentro, allowing them to thrive amid the recent growth of the e-commerce sector as a result of the pandemic.

Another industry-pioneering solution that is aligned with UBX’s efforts in incubating the next big Filipino entrepreneur is Bux, an end-to-end platform provides business owners with a wide selection of payment methods and channels depending on their needs or preference. To date, Bux has helped more than 100,000 businesses streamline their e-commerce payment process.

Through these solutions, UBX has become the biggest incubator of start-ups in the Philippines, giving burgeoning entrepreneurs secure footing in an era where being digital has become a must, made even more challenging by an unprecedented global health crisis. But these solutions aren’t the only capabilities of UBX when it comes to supporting start-ups.

“We’re very interested in investing in ideas, in founders, and talented entrepreneurs. We can invest in external or stand-alone ventures through our venture fund. We also have our venture studio which could make sense for someone who has a smaller team but needs the resources of an incubator/accelerator to bring their startup to market. UBX will provide individuals who have a great idea with a framework and assistance that will validate it and give capital and resources to bring it to scale,” Januszczak said.