WorldRemit is a digital cross border remittance business that provides international money transfer and
remittance
A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker, a member of a diaspora community, or a citizen with familial ties abroad, for household income in their home country or homeland. Money sent home by migrants competes wit ...
services in more than 130 countries and over 70 currencies. It was founded in 2010 by
Ismail Ahmed, Catherine Wines, and Richard Igoe.
[
]
History
WorldRemit was founded in 2010 by Ismail Ahmed, a former compliance advisor to the United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
. In October 2018, the firm announced that he would be stepping into the role of executive chairman and the company would be bringing in Breon Corcoran
Breon Thomas Corcoran (born July 1971) is an Irish businessman, and the CEO of WorldRemit and a non-executive director of Tilney (company), Tilney Investment Management Services and Bestinvest, both part of the Tilney Group. He was CEO of Flutt ...
as CEO. During his tenure WorldRemit acquire
SendWave
an
Zepz
was created as the group business housing both the WorldRemit and SendWave brands and businesses. Breon Corcoran left the organization in August of 2022 when Mark Lenhard, former COO of bill.com
Bill.com is a company based in San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern C ...
, was appointed Group CEO of Zepz.
Operations
WorldRemit focuses on cross border remittance money transfers from over 50 countries to over 130 countries around the world. For those receiving money, it offers pay out options including bank deposit, mobile money, mobile airtime top-up and cash pick-up as well as cash delivery.
The firm has a network of more than 5,000 corridors. It is connected to mobile money
A mobile payment, also referred to as mobile money, mobile money transfer and mobile wallet, is any of various payment processing services operated under financial regulations and performed from or via a mobile device, as the cardinal class of d ...
services globally, including Zaad (Somaliland), M-Pesa (Kenya), MTN (Africa and Asia), and bKash
bKash ( bn, বিকাশ) is a mobile financial service in Bangladesh operating under the authority of Bangladesh Bank as a subsidiary of BRAC Bank Limited. This mobile money system started as a joint venture between BRAC Bank Limited, Bangl ...
(Bangladesh). As of October 2019, it can send funds to 115 different countries; this includes all African countries except for Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
, South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...
, Eswatini
Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...
, Eritrea
Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
, Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
, and Algeria
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, relig ...
.
In 2021 WorldRemit acquired Sendwave, another cross-border digital payments company. In 2020 the two processed 50m transactions and facilitated the sending of over $10bn.
Funding
WorldRemit is backed by venture capital companies Accel Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures
TCMI, Inc. better known by the name TCV (Technology Crossover Ventures) is an American investment firm based in Menlo Park, California. The firm mainly invests in public and private growth-stage companies in the technology industry.
Background ...
(TCV).
In February 2015 the firm announced a $100m Series B funding round led by TCV. It was also announced that TCV General Partner John Rosenberg would join its board.
In 2017, the firm received $40 million in their Series C round of funding, with LeapFrog Investments
LeapFrog Investments is a private investment firm that invests in high-growth financial services and healthcare companies in emerging markets. Since inception, LeapFrog has attracted over $2 billion USD from global investors. The firm's investmen ...
the lead investor .
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Worldremit
Financial services companies established in 2010
Online remittance providers
Foreign exchange companies
Electronic funds transfer
Financial services companies of the United Kingdom
2010 establishments in England