WorldRemit Raises $45M to Tackle $600B Market

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Remittances start-up WorldRemit has raised $45 million in debt to help it tap the business of using mobile wallets to send money across emerging markets.

The investment has come from TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp and Silicon Valley Bank, bringing the total amount of money raised to date to $192.7 million. Other investors include Accel and TCV.

London-based WorldRemit allows users to send money abroad from a mobile device or computer with people on the other end being able to receive it in their bank accounts, by cash, to a mobile wallet or as a mobile airtime top-up. The service touts its cheaper fees and ability to transfer money instantly as the reason behind why it is able to challenge established rivals like Western Union.

International migrants will send $601 billion to their families in other countries this year, with developing countries receiving $441 billion of that, according to the World Bank. WorldRemit is trying to become the dominant player in that market. The financial technology or fintech space is heating up. WorldRemit’s closest rival is perhaps TransferWise which claims to allow cheaper international money transfers than the banks. In January 2015, TransferWise announced it had received $58 million in funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz, the Californian venture capital group that has backed companies like Facebook.

Source: CNBC (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Technology
Tags
fintech, remittances