Coins, a digital payments and blockchain startup, has raised US$5 million in a series A funding round led by the Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund, managed by Quona Capital, and also drawing support from Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors, Pantera Capital, Digital Currency Group, Wavemaker Labs, Global Brain, BeeNext, and Rebright Partners.

The startup intends to use the amount raised to further its mission of expanding access to basic financial services to unbanked individuals in the Philippines and throughout Southeast Asia. The company's investors also include Kickstart Ventures and Ideaspace Foundation, the investment arms of Globe Telecom and Smart Communications, respectively, the Philippines' biggest telecommunications companies.

Founded in early 2014 by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Ron Hose and Runar Petursson, Coins is a mobile-first, branchless, blockchain-based platform that provides consumers with direct access to basic financial services such as remittances, bill payments, and mobile airtime. It has partnered with a number of banks, financial institutions and last-mile retail outlets, spanning a network of over 22,000 cash disbursement and collection locations in the Philippines alone.

"In the Philippines, more people have a Facebook account than a bank account," Hose said. "We'd like to make access to financial services as easy and approachable as getting a Facebook account."

The company has signed up over 500,000 users till date. It leverages blockchain technology to connect its services to partners with a presence in over 40 countries, and offer instant, low-cost settlement of cross-border payments and remittances. For overseas workers who are currently paying 6-8% to send funds through companies like Western Union, this means a savings of up to 80% in fees, the company said.

"We are very excited to have such a great network of partners behind us who share our vision of increasing financial inclusion. In the coming months, we will continue to build new partnerships with banks, financial institutions, and retailers to connect customers across Southeast Asia with best-in-class financial services," said Petursson.