Remitly Joins The Billion-Dollar Club With Its New Valuation

Remitly joins the billion-dollar club with its new valuation at $1.5 billion. Their latest round of funding was raised on Jul 29, 2020, from a Series F round in the middle of a pandemic. Remitly has raised a total of $505M in funding over 11 rounds.

The recent valuation is yet another reassuring signal for the FinTech industry and digital remittances despite the grim predictions by the World Bank that estimates a 20% fall this year to $445 billion. The contraction is due to two major challenges:

• The economic slowdown resulting in job losses in sending countries bringing down the overall remittance volumes
• People moving away from using cash and avoiding spending time in agent shops and banks to make physical transactions, considering over 50% of the total remittance was still sent via physical locations

Although overall remittance volume will see a drop, technology-powered service providers will see significant growth as customers move to contactless and digital remittance solutions.

Matt Oppenheimer, Remitly's co-founder, and CEO reported that customer growth has increased by 200% compared to a year ago. Remitly raising the latest  $85 million in equity is to double down on its growth that will see a surge.

What does Remitly offer for migrants?

Two primary financial services that are improving the lives of many migrants are:

• Remittances
• Neobank

Remittances

Remittances - money sent internationally, usually by the migrant communities to the family and friends in their home countries. Remitly offers competitive exchange rates, fast money transfer, security, and convenience. Their mobile application also has excellent reviews on both Android and iOS stores. Here are more tips on using Remitly.

Neobank

Remitly ventured with the neo banking space with its launch of Passbook, in partnership with Greendot, as part of its strategy to expand its financial services and drive financial inclusion for immigrant communities. A report by TechCrunch confirms that Remitly is looking to scale it.

Laurent Le Moal, PayU's CEO and a member of the board who led Remitly's latest funding round said, "We have seen how the business is evolving, and the focus of its customers. Passbook is not just about digital banking. If you are a migrant worker without a Social Security number, this is the only way to open a bank account."

Existing banking and financial services are under-serving a growing migrant community. For instance, it is close to impossible to open bank accounts without an address proof in the US. The growth of companies like Remitly will help in closing some of the existing gaps. In fact, a far positive of the pandemic has been the exponential digital growth across brands, which will provide faster, cheaper, and better financial offers.