Startups in Cebu to Watch in 2027: Verified Companies in Edtech, AI, Virtual Tours, Outsourcing and Business Software
Cebu, the "Queen City of the South", is the Philippines' best-known tech hub outside Metro Manila. Its startups grew out of a strong IT and outsourcing industry, local universities and a founder community that has met at events like Geeks on a Beach for years. The 2026 version of this article listed ten startups in Cebu City, but when we checked them again in November 2026, three had no official website or record, four are national or regional companies with no Cebu headquarters, and one was described as a satellite internet company when it actually sells insurance software. For this 2027 edition we kept only companies whose own website confirms a Cebu base and what they sell today. That leaves eight companies, two of them from the old list, plus the programmes that support founders in Cebu.
Quick answer: the startups in Cebu to watch in 2027 are CodeChum (coding education for schools), Xeleqt (AI for fleets and field operations), Mata Technologies (360-degree virtual tours and VR maps), BPOSeats.com (seat leasing and Employer of Record services), PayRuler (payroll and HR software), Hatchit Solutions (business software for Philippine companies), and two Cebu software studios that build and back startups, Symph and Arcanys. Founders get support from DOST Region VII, the national Startup PH platform and the DOHE accelerator's Cebu office.
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Why Cebu Matters for Founders in 2027
Cebu's startup scene is smaller than Manila's, but it has three things founders need: software talent trained by a large IT and outsourcing industry, lower costs than the capital, and a tight community where founders, studios and investors know each other. Several companies on this list started as service firms and then built their own products, which is a common path in Cebu. The province is also organising its support: according to SunStar, Cebu Governor Pamela Baricuatro signed the creation of a Technology Startup Council of the Province of Cebu on 15 January 2026, and DOST Region VII pledged mentoring, training and prototyping support through its Innovation Hub.
Cebu is part of our series on Asian startup cities. Compare it with Bangkok startups to watch, Pattaya startups to watch, Dhaka startups to watch and Fukuoka startups to watch, or read our overview of startup cities in Asia. On the other side of the Pacific, Buenos Aires startups to watch shows another strong secondary hub.
Startups in Cebu to Watch in 2027 Compared
Sources: each company's official website and contact page, checked 6 November 2026. Client, project and school numbers are the companies' own figures.
The Cebu Startups to Watch in 2027
1. CodeChum: coding classes that schools can run
CodeChum is an edtech startup based in Cebu City that gives schools a platform for teaching programming; its homepage shows languages such as C, C++, Java, Python and HTML. It calls itself the "#1 trusted platform for programming education in the Philippines", says it is used in over 100 schools nationwide and lists partnerships with the Philippine Society of Information Technology Educators and the Institute of Computer Engineers of the Philippines. Its homepage says it is supported by DOST-PCIEERD, the science department's research council for emerging technologies. Its office is in Tisa, Cebu City.
Lesson for founders: CodeChum sells to teachers, the people who feel the grading workload, and works with their professional associations. Find the buyer who feels the pain every week.
2. Xeleqt: AI for fleets, workers and worksites
Xeleqt builds what it calls an AI operating system for physical operations: devices and software that track vehicles, fuel, equipment and field teams and flag problems such as possible fuel siphoning, hard braking or overdue maintenance. Its site says it is deployed across 10 industries in the Philippines, including logistics, construction and mining, and tracks more than 7,900 assets live. Its headquarters is in Capitol Site, Cebu City, with a second office in Makati. Xeleqt lists the 2025 Technopreneur of the Year award from the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the 2023 grand championship of the PLDT and Smart Start-Up Innovation Challenge. According to PLDT Enterprise, its CEO and co-founder is Norman Curato.
Lesson for founders: Xeleqt started from a costly, concrete problem, fuel and equipment losses, before it talked about AI. Sell the saving, not the technology.
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3. Mata Technologies: virtual tours of places and properties
Mata Technologies takes its name from the Filipino word for eyes. It builds 360-degree virtual tours of real estate and establishments, virtual reality maps of tourist destinations, Google Street View tours and aerial 360 photography by drone. Its portfolio shows work for Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, Negros Oriental and Iligan City, and its studio is on General Maxilom Avenue in Cebu City. Its CEO, Erika Dell Sancho, spoke at Tech Week PH in Cebu in May 2025, according to the same PLDT Enterprise report.
Lesson for founders: Mata sells to tourism offices and developers who need to show a place to people who are not there yet. A clear buyer makes a creative product a business.
4. BPOSeats.com: office seats and teams for overseas companies
BPOSeats.com has rented fully equipped BPO offices and flexible seats to companies building teams in the Philippines since 2014. Next to the seats it now offers free recruitment, Employer of Record (EOR), payroll and workforce management, so a foreign company can hire staff without setting up its own entity. Its homepage says it is headquartered in Cebu City and, when we checked, showed 11,477 seats across six cities. BPOSeats.com was on the old list; it is still active, but the old "3,500 seats" and "95% retention" figures had no source and are gone.
Lesson for founders: BPOSeats.com grew by adding services its seat customers already needed, hiring and payroll. Your next product may be the question your customers keep asking.
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5. PayRuler: payroll and HR software for Philippine rules
PayRuler is a full-suite HR management system built for Philippine payroll, available in the cloud or installed in-house. It says it serves more than 100 SME and enterprise clients across the Philippines. Its site lists two offices: one at the Asian Institute of Management's Dado Banatao Incubator in Makati and one in Kasambagan, Cebu City. PayRuler was on the old list; it is still active, with a Cebu office rather than a Cebu-only base.
Lesson for founders: payroll rules are local and change often, which keeps global tools out. Local regulation can be a moat for a local product.
6. Hatchit Solutions: software for companies, clinics and markets
Hatchit Solutions is a self-funded Cebuano tech company that celebrated ten years in 2026. It sells its own products: Digits ERP and POS, Billbird for billing and collections, SurgeHR, WellSync for rural health units, ServEase for document routing and e-signatures, UrbanWatch for disaster response and MarketLink for public markets, plus custom software. Its site counts more than 170 projects and 100 partners. Its office is in the BPI Corporate Center on Archbishop Reyes Avenue, Cebu City.
Lesson for founders: Hatchit grew without outside money by building products for problems its clients already pay to solve, from billing to disaster response.
7. Symph: a Cebu studio that puts AI to work
Symph is a Cebu design and engineering studio founded in 2010. Today it builds AI agents and automations that run on the CRM, ERP and spreadsheets a business already uses, and it says it has shipped more than 1,000 projects and 200 products, including a booking system for the ferry company OceanJet. Symph Inc. lists Cebu City and a US address in Delaware. Studios like Symph matter for the scene because they train developers and help new startups build their first product.
Lesson for founders: a studio that keeps rebuilding its offer, from apps to AI agents, outlasts trends. Keep your skills, change what you sell.
8. Arcanys: software teams and a venture arm
Arcanys has built software teams in Cebu since 2010 for companies abroad: staff augmentation, dedicated development teams and software outsourcing. Its office is in the JY IT Center 3 in Lahug, Cebu City, with a second office in Australia. Through Arcanys Ventures it also backs software founders.
Lesson for founders: a service company that knows how to build products can become an investor in products. Look at the studios in your city as possible partners.
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Where Cebu Startups Get Support
- DOST Region VII: the Department of Science and Technology's office for Central Visayas. Its programmes include SETUP (technology upgrading for small enterprises), grants-in-aid, technology transfer and commercialisation, laboratory testing and technical consultancy.
- Startup PH: the government's Startup Philippines website, with the Department of Trade and Industry, DOST and the Department of Information and Communications Technology as partners. Registration is free for Filipino tech-enabled startups and, according to the site, opens access to government grants, venture funding and official accreditation under the Philippine Startup Development Program.
- DOHE: a London-based edtech accelerator with an office in Cebu Business Park. According to the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, it runs the 24-week Go-Together Accelerator, a monthly "All Aboard! Startup Cebu Mixer" for founders, students and investors, and is a founding sponsor of the Startup Ecosystem Alliance Cebu.
- QBO Innovation Hub: a division of IdeaSpace that has run startup acceleration, incubator training and ecosystem programmes since 2016. It is based in Makati, Metro Manila, not in Cebu, but works with regions across the country.
- Geeks on a Beach: the Cebu tech and startup conference. According to SunStar, its 2025 edition ran from 1 to 3 October 2025 in Mactan. In 2026 its site lists live online AI engineering masterclasses, the first of which started on 7 October 2026.
- Arcanys Ventures and Symph: two local studios that help founders build products, and in Arcanys' case invest in them.
For more options across the region, see our lists of startup incubators in Asia, edtech accelerators in Asia and startup competitions in Asia. Women founders can also look at grants for women entrepreneurs in Asia and accelerators for female entrepreneurs.
What Changed Since the 2026 List
Only two of the ten companies on the old list could be confirmed as active and based in Cebu. Here is what happened to the rest:
- RuralNet is a real company, but the old article got it wrong: it is an insurtech with a digital insurance distribution and claims platform, not a satellite internet provider. Its own site gives no Cebu address, so it is no longer listed.
- Coins.ph, Xendit and 9cv9 are national or regional platforms that serve Cebu, but their own sites show no Cebu headquarters. They were never Cebu startups.
- GoTyme Bank is a digital bank whose own site gives an address in Quezon City, Metro Manila.
- Edusuite, Archipelago Builders and GameXcel: we found no official website or record for any of them, so they are removed.
- Startup Cebu: the old startupcebu.com domain is now listed for sale on a domain marketplace, and we found no current official site, so we no longer list it as a support programme.
- Statistics removed: the old "17% annual growth", "$6.4 billion" valuation, "2,000 remote villages", "$2 billion in transactions" and "300,000 users" figures had no traceable source.
Which Cebu Company Should You Learn From?
- You build edtech: study CodeChum, which sells to schools and teachers' associations.
- You build AI or IoT for industry: study Xeleqt and how it sells measurable savings.
- You build creative or tourism tech: study Mata Technologies and its government and real estate clients.
- You sell services to foreign companies: study BPOSeats.com and Arcanys.
- You build B2B software for local rules: study PayRuler and Hatchit Solutions.
- You want to start as a studio: study Symph, which has kept changing what it builds since 2010.
How Founders Use Cebu's Startup Scene
Start by registering on Startup PH and talking to DOST Region VII if you build hardware or deep tech; CodeChum, for one, lists DOST-PCIEERD support. Then meet the community at founder mixers and events, and talk to the local studios before you hire your first developers. When you are ready to raise, compare the funds in early-stage VCs in Asia.
Then make sure customers can find you. List your startup in the F/MS marketing directories, publish your startup press release, and write about your product with the F/MS AI SEO Tool or the AI SEO Blog so clients, investors and AI assistants can find you.
FAQ About Startups in Cebu to Watch in 2027
Which startups in Cebu should I watch in 2027?
Our verified list: CodeChum, Xeleqt, Mata Technologies, BPOSeats.com, PayRuler, Hatchit Solutions, Symph and Arcanys. Each one's own website confirmed a Cebu City headquarters or office in November 2026.
Why does the list have eight companies, not ten?
Only two names from the old list could be confirmed in Cebu. The others had no official website, are headquartered elsewhere, or were described wrongly. We added six companies we could verify instead of padding the list.
Is Cebu a good place to start a startup?
For software and services, yes: Cebu has a large IT and outsourcing industry, an active founder community and support from DOST Region VII and the national Startup PH platform.
Which Cebu startup works in edtech?
CodeChum, a Cebu City startup with a programming education platform that it says is used in over 100 schools across the Philippines.
Which Cebu startup works in AI?
Xeleqt, headquartered in Capitol Site, Cebu City, builds AI and IoT tools for fleets, field teams and worksites. It won the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry's 2025 Technopreneur of the Year award.
Is Coins.ph a Cebu startup?
No. Coins.ph serves users across the Philippines, but its own site shows no Cebu headquarters, so we removed it from this list.
Where can startups get support in Cebu?
DOST Region VII, the national Startup PH platform, the DOHE accelerator's Cebu office and local studios such as Symph and Arcanys. QBO Innovation Hub runs national programmes from Makati.
What is the Technology Startup Council of Cebu?
According to SunStar, it is a provincial council created on 15 January 2026 to coordinate policies and programmes for Cebu startups, with support from DOST Region VII.
Is there support for women founders in Cebu?
Mata Technologies is led by CEO Erika Dell Sancho, who has spoken about women in tech in Cebu. Women founders can also use the Fe/male Switch startup game and our lists of grants and accelerators for women entrepreneurs.
Where can I get a backlink by writing about my startup?
You can publish a guest post in one of the Fe/male Switch startup blogs, which rank in Google and in AI tools. Get a quality backlink.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
