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Canada-based LemFi was founded in 2021 to give the growing population of African immigrants quick and affordable ways to send money back home. Traditional remittance channels like banks charge excessive fees to send small amounts.
“We were told remittances had already been solved. But for too many people, it is still too slow, cumbersome and expensive,” said LemFi’s Ridwan Olalere. LemFi enables free international money transfers and competitive exchange rates from Europe, the US and Canada to banks and mobile wallets in Senegal, Kenya, India and other emerging market economies.
African diaspora
Remittances from Africans living abroad were estimated at more than $100 billion last year. LemFi says it handles more than $1 billion in monthly transactions. London-based venture capital firm Highland Europe led LemFi’s $53 million Series B round. Previous investors Left Lane Capital, Palm Drive Capital and Y-Combinator who participated in LemFi’s $33 million Series A in 2023, joined the latest round.
Betting on remittances
Investors are active in tech-enabled international money transfer and payment platforms. Tanzania’s Nala raised $40 million last year to support global expansion. London-based TerraPay secured $75 million from the International Finance Corp., ILX and other investors to expand in Africa. Zepz, founded by a Somali refugee, landed $267 million from LeapFrog Investments. HUB2 from Côte d’Ivoire raised $8.5 million to ease remittances in French-speaking West Africa.
