EXCLUSIVE- Emerging markets-focused money transfer app WorldRemit has raised another round of funding, bringing the total amount to $220 million.
The new Series C funding of $40 million was led by LeapFrog Investments, a PE firm that focuses on Asian and African markets. Other investors include California-based investment firms Accel and TCV, both of whom have been previous investors in WorldRemit.
Based in London, WorldRemit was founded in 2010. The mobile-first fintech focuses on remittances between developed and emerging markets. A user can transfer/send money through the app, which is available on Android, to a recipient, who then has the choice to either digitally transfer into their account or pick up cash in their respective currency at a local cash-pickup.
Funds from this current round of investment will be put towards the company’s goal of serving 10 million customers connected to emerging markets by 2020. The funds will be used to launch the app and cash-pickup stops in new markets as well as expanding in existing ones.
Indeed, WorldRemit has been working hard to achieve this goal. Last month, the company launched its app in South Korea, and set up cash-pickup stores in Zimbabwe, Seychelles and the Maldives.
Since its previous round of funding in 2015 (raised from TCV), the company has grown 400% in transaction volume. The amount of that volume is undisclosed. WorldRemit could not be reached for comment.
Stewart Langdon, partner at LeapFrog Investments, said in a statement yesterday:
WorldRemit’s model is uniquely suited to scale and offers a best in class service that is vital to the livelihood of millions of consumers in LeapFrog’s core markets. The company also has a huge potential to expand globally – a combination that puts it at the heart of our profit with purpose philosophy.
WorldRemit is available to senders in 50 countries and offers money transfers to over 140 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas. The company currently has 130 million mobile money accounts.
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