The encyclopedia · Finance & Accounting · Product decision · 2004–2026
GCash turned every sari-sari store into an ATM — and won Philippine cash
An SMS wallet from 2004 with 3M users became a super app after Ant's 2017 investment — corner-shop cash-in network, 94M users, ₱17T GTV, PH's biggest IPO.
GCash
the move
GCash began in October 2004 as G-Cash, an SMS e-wallet from Globe Telecom's G-Xchange, with cash-in/out through sari-sari stores and Globe outlets (P1.00 per transaction), winning a GSMA award in 2005. Yet by February 2017 it still had only ~3 million registered customers and ~P10 billion of weekly transactions — the Philippines' largest mobile wallet, but stalled.
The pivot came in 2017: Ant Financial — its first investment in the Philippines — and Ayala subscribed to new Mynt shares (signed 17 February 2017). GCash was rebuilt as a super app: Alipay-style payments first, then lending (GCredit, GLoan), savings (GSave), insurance (GInsure) and investment (GInvest), all risk-scored from transaction data (GScore). Cash-in/out exploded through retail corners — 339,000 points by 2022, 1.3 million by 2026 — and COVID government relief payouts delivered a mass first-use during 2020.
The numbers: users from 46M (Jul 2021) to 66M (1H2022) to 94M registered (Oct 2024; MAU 40.4M, ~55% of adults, by 2026); GTV from P1T+ (2020) to P3.8T (2021) to P17.03T (2025); net profit P6.38B (2023), P11.13B (2024), P17.25B (2025). A valuation marker of $5B came in August 2024 (Ayala adding 8%, with MUFG), and in October 2026 GCash listed on the PSE raising ₱92.3 billion — the largest IPO in Philippine history.
why it works
- Infrastructure beats UI: in a cash economy the wallet's moat is the density of cash-in/out points, not the app — turning every shopkeeper into a distributor makes the network build itself.
- Data becomes credit: payment history on the unbanked is the risk file banks lack, so the lending and wealth layers monetize the same user at several times the payment margin.
what transfers
In cash-first markets, build the conversion rail before the features: use corner stores as ATMs, keep the base free, and let payment data graduate users to credit and wealth.
what came after
GCash closed 2025 with ₱17.03T of GTV, ₱17.25B net profit, 1.3M cash points and 40.4M monthly actives; in October 2026 it listed on the PSE raising ₱92.3B — the Philippines' largest-ever IPO. Globe holds 33.84% and Ant International 21.44%, and cumulative loan originations reached ₱362B.
references
- Ant Financial, Ayala Corp. to invest in Globe Telecom's Mynt (Feb 2017 signing; 3M users)
- GCash monthly gross transactions hit P300 billion
- GCash hits 66 million users, P3 trillion in GTV in 1H 2022 (339,000 cash-in/out points)
- GCash boosts valuation to $5B with new funding from Ayala, MUFG
- Early GCash backers to cash in biggest chunk of IPO proceeds (₱92.3B, Globe 33.84%, Ant 21.44%)
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