Photo courtesy of Jezy Fernandez

If two makes a trend, then the boxing great Manny Pacquiao is officially becoming a tech investor after today’s announcement that he led a seed round into the Philippines car rental platform Graventure.

The news comes just a month after Pacquiao entered the blockchain arena by investing in the blockchain company GCOX.

As part of the deal, Pacquiao will now be the official endorser of Graventure.

Planning to officially launch in Q3 2018, Graventure is building a one-stop online platform to connect car rental agencies to consumers. In the Philippines, the industry is fragmented and requires a person to visit multiple sites to find what works for them.

The goal is to centralise tens of thousands of listings on to one mobile and desktop platform.

“I like that Graventure will solve a problem that will help many Filipinos in Manila and across the country. They will be able to find and rent a car much more easily, and that’s important. They can now focus on going places instead of surfing the web all day,” said Pacquiao in an official statement.

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The goal is also help car owners and agencies who have spent years managing rental queries across various websites. This is the pinpoint that inspired Graventure Co-founder Gracy Fernandez to start the company.

“Renting out even a single car before was a chore, but through Graventure, it will be easy to manage the rental of even multiple vehicles or a large fleet,”she said.

“Just as how many Filipinos have earned extra income by renting out their properties, I ultimately hope that more of us will be able to create a profitable business through Graventure.”

Pacquiao — who is estimated to be worth about US$200 million — followed a similar model in his investment in GCOX. He put in some money, is planning to launch his own cryptocurrency and will act as a celebrity endorser for the blockchain startup.

Also Read: From Welterweight champion to Congressman, now Manny Pacquiao is entering the blockchain ring

Other celebrity sports figures that are known to have a key interest in startup investment are Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony and Serena Williams. Baseball superstar Derek Jeter crossed the line into entrepreneurship, being the Founder of the popular sports media company ‘The Player’s Tribune’.

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