Balik*Bayan NY 2025 Gathers Fil-Am Founders, Funders, and Mentors to Elevate Philippine Startup Ecosystem
NEW YORK, 04 December 2025 – The Philippine Consulate General in New York and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in New York, in partnership with Endeavor Philippines, hosted “Balik*Bayan NY 2025” at the Philippine Center in New York on 03 December 2025. The gathering brought together Filipino-American founders, innovation leaders, funders, ecosystem builders, and entrepreneurs to learn, collaborate, and network with the goal to reconnect back home and fuel economic growth in the Philippines.
In his video message, Consul General Senen T. Mangalile hoped that the event would achieve three objectives: to facilitate connections between the talented US-based professionals, investors, and mentors and the dynamic entrepreneurs in the Philippines; to showcase opportunities for attendees to be part of the growing startup community in the Philippines by contributing as investors, by being founders themselves, or by mentoring those who are trying to innovate their way to success; and to inspire action to move beyond discussions and highlight concrete examples of how engagement with one another can directly drive economic growth and uplift lives back home.
Mr. Manny Ayala, Managing Director of Endeavor Philippines and concurrently Regional Managing Director of Endeavor Asia Pacific, highlighted the “pay-it-forward” culture that Endeavor champions and how it aspires to ignite the transformative power of the multiplier effect in the Philippines by inspiring high-growth entrepreneurs to dream bigger, supporting and investing in them to scale faster, and providing a platform to multiply their impact. Meanwhile, Ms. Caela Tanjangco, discussed the salient features of Endeavor Catalyst, Endeavor’s rules-based, co-investment fund of Endeavor which supports entrepreneurs across emerging markets.
One of the program highlights was a panel discussion with Ms. Mikaela Reyes, Founder and CEO of Parralax (acquired by Phantom) and Mr. Jaime Deverall, Co-Founder of Flychain, who shared their journeys and insights through which the Filipino diaspora can contribute to their homeland. Ms. Reyes and Mr. Deverall are Filipinos who have returned to support and nurture the startup ecosystem back home either through mentorship and/or investment, also known as “sea turtles”.
This event showcased the momentum of the Philippine startup ecosystem, which, with capital, trust, and support will continue to make bold strides toward global competitiveness and inclusive economic growth made possible by Filipino leadership, innovation, and the spirit of bayanihan. END
