Co-founders of LemFi: Ridwan Olalere and Rian Cochran. Photo credit: LemFi
Leading financial technology platform LemFi is set to broaden its reach in Asia and Europe following a successful $53 million Series B funding round. The remittance startup, which serves African immigrants across 22 countries, will use the funds to accelerate its European expansion through the acquisition of a European firm.
According to LemFi co-founder and CEO Ridwan Olalere, the funding round was completed in just four months, with participation from existing investors Left Lane Capital, Palm Drive Capital, and Y Combinator, as well as new investors like Endeavor Catalyst. This latest round brings LemFi’s total funding to $85 million.
The newly raised capital will enable LemFi to expand its product offerings, scale its payment network licenses and partnerships, and recruit top talent for its next phase of growth. The company, which currently employs more than 300 people across Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia, plans to provide increasingly localised services to its growing customer base.
“While regulations market by market remain complex s 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 explained. “So, we intend to go to as many markets as we have significant number of immigrants, starting now with Europe this year, which is going to be a big focus for us.”
Founded in 2021 by Olalere and CFO Rian Cochran, LemFi has quickly established itself as a trusted financial services platform for immigrant communities worldwide. The London-based company initially focused on payments and remittances but has since expanded to offer multi-currency accounts, enabling users to send and receive money globally with reliability and low costs.
Currently operating in 27 send-from markets and 20 send-to countries, including China, India, Kenya, Nigeria, and Pakistan, LemFi empowers diaspora communities in Europe and North America to move money affordably and efficiently to emerging markets.
With this new funding, LemFi is poised to acquire more customers, broaden its footprint, and bring its services to even more countries, further solidifying its position as a leader in the remittance and financial services space.
