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FUNDING | Emerging Markets Remittance Fintech, LemFi, Secures $53 Million Series B Funding, Now Handling Over $1 Billion in Monthly Payment Volume
LemFi, a London-based financial services platform tailored for immigrants, has secured $53 million in new funding which will support its expansion plans.
The Series B funding round was led by Highland Europe, a London-based growth-stage investment firm that supports startups generating over €10 million in annualized revenue.
Participants included contributions from existing investors such as:
Launched in 2020, LemFi has experienced rapid growth by serving diaspora communities in North America and, more recently, Europe, enabling them to send money to emerging markets in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
The four-year-old fintech now has over 1 million active users who use its multi-currency accounts to transfer funds to loved ones in 22 countries including:
LemFi generates revenue through transaction fees and foreign exchange spreads and currently operates in 27 send-from markets and 20 send-to countries.
According to LemFi CEO, Ridwan Olalere, one of the reasons for the startup’s success in the short time it has existed is implementing robust fraud detection measures.
“Fraud can significantly drive up costs. Higher costs often mean passing them on to customers through additional fees. We’ve managed to keep our fraud rate extremely low, allowing us to offer customers the best possible prices,” said Olalere, who founded LemFi with CFO, Rian Cochran, after the duo met at African fintech unicorn, OPay.
“So, we’ve built a brand and reputation in certain communities because of that, as well as our user experience, which makes our customers refer it to their friends. That has helped us differentiate and grow even faster than you would expect in such a competitive market.”
About 70% of LemFi’s earliest customers still use the platform, while 60% of its customer base is active yearly.
The fintech, which surpassed $2 billion in annual transaction volume in 2023, is now handling $1 billion in monthly payment volume, according to Olalere. He attributes this growth to the strong adoption in the Asian corridor, which generates $160 million in monthly transaction volume and has been growing at a rate of 30% month-over-month within its first year of operation.
LemFi plans to use the funding to expand its services, enhance its payment network licenses and partnerships to deliver highly localized solutions, and hire talent to support its next phase of growth. The company currently employs over 300 people across Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia.
“While regulations market by market remain complex and we have more stakeholders to deal with, scaling has become a lot easier for us because we have technology that is adaptable and can easily plug and play to different payment methods and schemes,” Olalere said.
“So, we intend to go to as many markets as we have significant number of immigrants, starting now with Europe this year [2025], which is going to be a big focus for us.”
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