Consortium Led by Ukraine’s Diligent Capital invests $12 million in fast-growing Philippines neobank

Diligent Capital Partners, a leading mid-market private equity firm principally focused on Ukraine and the Black Sea basin, today announces that it is leading a $12 million investment with participation from Plio Limited, existing shareholder Altara Capital, and Tonik management. Tonik was founded by Greg Krasnov a Ukrainian national with an unparalleled track record in establishing and growing successful financial technology businesses. The deal emphasises Diligent Capital Partners’ commitment to both strengthening the Ukrainian economy and supporting Ukrainian entrepreneurs abroad. Tonik It isn’t just led by a Ukrainian; it has a large number of Ukrainian middle management, and some of its team will continue to operate from Ukraine.

Having spotted a unique opportunity in the underserved Philippines market for a digital-only bank, Krasnov founded Tonik in Manila in 2021. The bank, the first of its kind in that country, has since grown exponentially and now has almost $150 million in consumer deposits. A number of marquee investors back it, including Mizuho, Point72 Ventures, Insignia Ventures Partners, Peak XV Partners, Altara Ventures, Oak Drive Ventures, Inc., and Camerton Holdings, all with successful track records in both finance and technology investing.

Tonik was recently named a 2025 Endeavor Outlier — placing the company among the top 10% of global high-growth scale-ups in global start-up network Endeavor’s 2,500+ company portfolio across 42 markets, and putting it in the bracket of global neobank unicorns like Nubank, Ualá and Cora — all trailblazers in reimagining financial access in emerging markets.

Tonik assesses the Philippines as representing a $350 billion retail savings market and a $100 billion unsecured consumer lending opportunity. The figures suggest there is significant potential for expansion by what is already Philippines’ Number One digital bank.

This investment offers a distinctive opportunity to showcase DCP’s combination of expertise in technology and financial services.

Although primarily focused on bricks-and-mortar and tech investments, DCP recently bolstered its financial services expertise by adding Cristina Harea to its investment team, the former Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Moldova. She was part of a reform-driven leadership team that transformed the Moldovan banking sector, thereby strengthening its resilience. Harea has since returned to the private equity space and now has a brace of deals in the financial services sector under her belt. Her role with Diligent Capital Partners continues that engagement.

Mark Iwashko, Co-Managing Partner at DCP, said: “I have known Greg personally and professionally for a considerable period of time and always been impressed by his achievements and ability as an innovator, entrepreneur and creator of businesses. We are not surprised that he has made such a success of Tonik in such a short space of time. We think this is an investment with significant upside. I am delighted to have been able to demonstrate the power of DCP in being able to put together a high-quality consortium of investors from Ukraine and the wider region to capitalise on this opportunity.”

Greg Krasnov added: “We have worked closely with Diligent Capital Partners to ensure that this financing round is about scaling up with discipline – protecting our capital ratios while growing a profitable, credit-led model. Tonik was built to prove that financial inclusion in emerging markets can be delivered with truly world-class returns.”

NOTES: Diligent Capital Partners (DCP) is a Kyiv-based mid-market private equity firm created to mobilize both private and public capital to support the strengthening of the Ukrainian and wider regional economy. With over 30 years of experience in Ukraine and the region, the DCP team has deployed more than € 400m of equity capital in over 30 transactions in Ukraine.

Tonik is the first digital-only neobank in the Philippines, operating under a full banking license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Tonik offers loans, deposits, and embedded finance via a mobile-first experience. The company is backed by leading global investors, including Mizuho, Point72 Ventures, Insignia Ventures Partners, Peak XV Partners, Altara Ventures, Oak Drive Ventures, Inc. The bank integrates regulated, low-cost deposit funding with a deeply seasoned AI risk engine trained on more than three years of proprietary data, and a B2B2C distribution network spanning nearly 400 employers and over 500 retail partners. Its cloud-native stack powers real-time underwriting, behavioural scoring, and automated servicing — lowering cost-to-serve and stabilising cost of risk.