In the United States, there are many celebrities in the startup and tech ecosystem, including everyone from actor-investor Ashton Kutcher to actress-founder Jessica Alba. While the Philippines is just as celebrity-dominated a culture, there is very little meaningful celebrity presence in the startup scene – that is, until now.
Yassi Pressman, a Filipina actress and one of the most famous celebrities in the Philippines with nearly 20 million followers across her social media accounts, is launching her own startup group, which includes PEG and BrandNation. While many in the tech community would raise eyebrows at any celebrity getting into the field, Pressman already has a feather in her cap: She’s venture-backed.
The 27-year-old actress has secured a US$2 million seed round for PEG and BrandNation. The round was led by Sonla, a cryptocurrency exchange and digital asset custodial provider. The seed round will be used to drive the deployment of the proprietary PEGFi interoperable and integrated digital financial infrastructure offering to its target GameFi and Web 3.0 market participants. The round will also be used to support a related venture, BrandNation.io, an influencer marketing platform for digital and web3 brands.
Sonla was drawn to the fact that Pressman has deep alignment with the two fields that PEG is targeting: P&E gaming and influencer marketing. As an enormously popular actress and endorser, Pressman has the clout to attract large strategic clients in GameFi and Web 3.0 for PEGFi and brands and influencers for BrandNation.io.
“Web3 products are not built through advertising, but through community. Pressman has the influence needed to attract the critical mass of users needed for both PEG and BrandNation.io. She can lead them toward a more professional, efficient, and digitally enabled industry for both gaming and influencer marketing respectively,” said Kiran Sharma, Senior Partner, Sonla.
Sonla was also attracted to the fact that both PEG companies have significant value-add in the form of technology. For example, BrandNation.io is not just a middleman, more effectively matching influencers with brands. In contrast, the platform boasts of a suite of features that make it easy for both brands and influencers to interact with one another, beginning with the core user experience.
Brands will be able to automate the campaign creation process for influencer marketing in just a few clicks, gain access to real-time data about each campaign, and achieve mainstream adoption through collaborations with even A-list celebrities, including Pressman herself.
BrandNation.io will offer complete integration with all social media platforms, such as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter, as well as real-time rewards and payments via PEG Token, the native token of PEG and the PEGFi ecosystem.
This PEG Token is notably backed by BLX, the native token of BLOX, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) registered in Wyoming, United States. Through this technological backbone, users and brands with PEG can more easily transact with one another for collaborations and partnerships, directly through both the PEG and BrandNation.io platforms.
While Pressman knows she will be highlighted as a celebrity building a tech startup, she is fine with the attention because it can materially help PEG and its two flagship brands.
“There’s always extra attention when an entertainer launches a startup. This is great because we’ll need all the help we can get. Changing gaming and influencer marketing will not happen overnight, even with this seed funding. We’ll need a strong community to band together, inspired by the vision of what our respective industries can one day be,” said Pressman.
Brands or influencers interested in partnering with BrandNation.io for its coming Philippine launch are encouraged to visit its home page or reach out to Pressman and the team at Admin@BrandNation.io. GameFi or Web 3.0 market participants interested in utilizing the PEGFi financial infrastructure bridging Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 are encouraged to visit its website.
