JAKARTA, Indonesia & LONDON--(Antara/BUSINESS WIRE)-- Leading digital money transfer service WorldRemit has raised $40 million to drive its next phase of global growth, including an expansion of its Indonesia operation.
WorldRemit's mobile-first, digital model allows migrants to send money in a few taps directly from their phones or online instead of going to a bricks and mortar agent. Its popularity across APAC has grown rapidly and the region now accounts for 25% of WorldRemit's total revenue.
Within that, Indonesia is a key market with year-on-year growth of WorldRemit's transfers to the country topping 40%. Indonesians living overseas send remittances worth billions of dollars back home every year. The Indonesian fintech sector is vibrant and innovative, as businesses and consumers rapidly embrace digital technology.
WorldRemit handles a growing share of the $600 billion remittance market. Currently sending from over 50 countries to 148 destinations, the new funding will be used to increase WorldRemit's presence in Indonesia, including appointing its first country manager.
Bryce Currie, Global Business Development Director in the region, comments: "Indonesians are rapidly adopting WorldRemit's digital first money transfer service which is more convenient and lower-cost than traditional operators. This new funding will allow us to expand our network and service in Indonesia. Having a country manager in place will help us drive our growth even faster."
Since its last funding round in 2015, WorldRemit has launched 206 new services across the globe and has grown its transaction volume by 400%. Last month WorldRemit became Arsenal FC's first-ever online money transfer partner. Earlier in 2017 it announced a global integration with Android Pay.
The Series C round was led by LeapFrog Investments - a dedicated equity investor in emerging markets, supporting fast-growth firms that deliver social impact alongside commercial returns. The round also had significant participation from existing investors Accel and TCV.
It follows a Series B investment raised from TCV in 2015 and a Series A from Accel and Project A in 2014 - then one of the largest ever Series A rounds in Europe.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About WorldRemit
WorldRemit was founded in 2010 by Ismail Ahmed, a remittance specialist and former compliance advisor to the United Nations. Personal experience of using money transfer agents convinced Ismail that technology could improve the sending process, enhance compliance and reduce costs to the customer.
In November 2017 WorldRemit became Arsenal FC's first-ever online money transfer partner in a global sponsorship deal for all Premier League, League Cup and FA Cup games. In June 2017 WorldRemit added Android Pay to its service, offering a new way for WorldRemit's Android Pay users to safely and securely send money to 130 million mobile money accounts accessible via its network.
WorldRemit has secured $220 million in funding backed by Accel and TCV - early investors in Facebook, Spotify, Netflix and Slack - and LeapFrog. WorldRemit's global headquarters are in London, UK with regional offices in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand.
For more information, please visit the WorldRemit web site at www.worldremit.com
About LeapFrog Investments
LeapFrog invests in extraordinary businesses in Africa and Asia. We partner with their leaders to achieve leaps of growth, profitability and impact. LeapFrog companies now operate across 33 markets reaching 111 million people with financial services and healthcare. Over 93.8 million of those are emerging consumers, often accessing insurance, savings, pensions, credit and healthcare for the first time. LeapFrog companies provide jobs and livelihoods to over 114,626 people. These companies have grown on average by 43.3 per cent per annum since LeapFrog's investment. LeapFrog was recently named by Fortune as one of the top five companies changing the world, the first private equity firm ever to be listed. www.leapfroginvest.com @leapfroginvest
About Accel
Accel is a leading venture capital firm that invests in people and their companies from the earliest days through all phases of private company growth. Atlassian, Algolia, Avito, Cloudera, Crowdstrike, Deliveroo, DJI, Dropbox, Etsy, Facebook, Flipkart, Funding Circle, Kayak, QlikTech, Slack, Spotify, Supercell and WorldRemit are among the companies the firm has backed over the past 30 years. The firm seeks to understand entrepreneurs as individuals, appreciate their originality and play to their strengths. Because greatness doesn't have a stereotype. For more, visit www.accel.com, www.facebook.com/accel or www.twitter.com/accel.
About TCV
Founded in 1995, TCV provides capital to growth-stage private and public companies in the technology industry. TCV has invested over $9 billion in leading technology companies and has helped guide CEOs through more than 100 IPOs and strategic acquisitions. TCV investments in the financial technology sector include Automated Trading Desk, Avalara, AxiomSL, CCC Information Services, Envestnet, FX Alliance, Green Dot, iPipeline, Lynk Systems, MarketAxess, Payoneer, Retail Merchant Services (RMS), Solarc, Riskmetrics Group, Tastyworks, thinkorswim, and WorldRemit. TCV's internet and software investments include Altiris, Dollar Shave Club, ExactTarget, Expedia, Facebook, Fandango, GoDaddy, Genesys Software, HomeAway, Merkle, Netflix, Redback Networks, Rent the Runway, Sitecore, Splunk, Spotify, VICE Media, and Zillow. TCV is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with offices in New York and London. For more information about TCV, including a complete list of TCV investments, please visit http://www.tcv.com
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Contacts
Media
WorldRemit
Lucas Germanos, +44 207148 6118 (ext. 775)
Global Lead, PR and Media Relations
lgermanos@worldremit.com
or
Bryce Currie
Global Business Development Director
bcurrie@worldremit.com
or
Photo Media Pack
http://bit.ly/2A68TD4
Source: WorldRemit
Reporter: PR Wire
Editor: PR Wire
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