Online money transfer service WorldRemit today announced that it has raised $100m in Series B funding.
The round was led by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), with participation from existing investor Accel Partners and reflects massive potential of online money transfers.
Future Fifty company WorldRemit is a global leader in smartphone and web-based money transfers – providing a convenient, low-cost alternative to expensive brick-and-mortar agents. The company enables a growing market share of the $550bn in remittances sent each year by expatriates and migrant workers to their homelands.
This investment will allow WorldRemit to extend its existing reach of 50 send countries and 117 receive countries, and expand partnerships with Mobile Money wallets operated by telecoms companies in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
WorldRemit founder and CEO, Ismail Ahmed said: “I am delighted that TCV is joining WorldRemit in our mission to enable the seamless movement of money between people across borders. We have an amazing opportunity to shake-up a stale industry and to save our customers time and money. We are taking money transfers into the mobile age, where people send from apps and receive on Mobile Money services.”
WorldRemit’s London headquarters has grown from around 40 staff in early 2014, to its current headcount of more than 150. Denver, Colorado was unveiled as the company’s U.S. base in December 2014, with plans to recruit more than 200 staff. TCV General Partner John Rosenberg said: “The $550bn global remittance market is undergoing significant disruption with a clear shift to online and mobile solutions for international money transfer.”
“We are delighted to partner with Ismail and the WorldRemit team, who are at the forefront in offering convenient, low-cost solutions, backed by a market leading technology platform, compliance infrastructure, and geographic footprint.”
The TCV-led Series B round comes less than 12 months after Accel Partners invested $40m in WorldRemit, one of the largest ever Series A rounds in Europe. TCV’s John Rosenberg will join the WorldRemit board.
TCV was advised by William Blair (exclusive financial advisor) and Weil, Gotshal & Manges (legal) in this transaction.
WorldRemit was welcomed onto the Future Fifty programme, along with 11 other exciting growth-stage companies, in December 2014.