Remittance-focused fintech startup LemFi has announced a significant capital raise of $53 million in a Series B funding round, aimed at facilitating its expansion into Europe.
The round was led by London-based growth-stage investment firm Highland Europe, with participation from existing investors including Endeavor Catalyst, Left Lane Capital, Palm Drive Capital, and Y Combinator. This brings LemFi’s total funding to $85 million.
LemFi, which currently serves African immigrants across 22 countries, plans to utilize this funding to broaden its service offerings, enhance its payment network licenses and partnerships globally, and deliver hyper-localized services.
The expansion into Europe follows a partnership with Modulr and the acquisition of an unnamed Republic of Ireland-based company, enabling LemFi to commence independent operations in Europe next month.
The company also aims to invest in talent acquisition to support its rapid growth phase. LemFi presently employs over 300 individuals across Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia.
More work for the founders
Founded in 2019 by Nigerian Ridwan Olalere and European Rian Cochran, LemFi’s recent collaboration allows it to initiate operations while awaiting its own European license, which is anticipated to be granted next month.
This expansion will enable LemFi, which generates revenue through transaction fees and foreign exchange spreads, to serve customers in 27 send-from markets and facilitate remittances to 20 recipient countries.
After expanding into the US in 2023, LemFi entered large remittance markets like China, India, and Pakistan in 2024, hiring C-suite executives from domestic companies such as Terrapay, DeliveryHero, and OPay to support this growth.
What you should know
- The funding will allow Lemfi to acquire more licenses and partnerships as it expands its offerings to include localised services for customers. Lemfi is set to launch a card for customers in the US, the UK and Canada. It will also hire staff as it continues to grow rapidly.
- Lemfi is now processing $1 billion in monthly payment volume, a significant jump from 2023 when it processed $2 billion in annual transaction volume. The startup has also doubled users, revenue, and transactions over the past two years.
- Olalere credited the growth to strong adoption in the Asian corridor, which rakes in $160 million in monthly TPV and is growing 30% month-on-month since it launched last year.
After expanding into the US in 2023, the startup entered large remittance markets like China, India, and Pakistan in 2024. It entered these markets by poaching C-suite executives from domestic companies like Terrapay, DeliveryHero, and OPay.
