Nigerian fintech startup Grey raises $2m to simplify cross-border payments across Africa

Nigerian fintech startup Grey raises $2m to simplify cross-border payments across Africa

Published: 29-08-2022 15:08:00 | By: Pie Kamau | hits: 3637 | Tags:

Nigerian fintech startup Grey has raised $2 million in seed funding to simplify cross-border payments across Africa. The seed funding round included participation from Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Heirloom Fund, True Culture Fund, angel investors Alan Rutledge, Samvit Ramadurgam, Karthik Ramakrishnan, and other high-profile investors.

With this new round of capital, Grey plans to launch into new markets and extend its product suite to include not just remittances but also person-to-person and business-to-business payments so every African can enjoy seamless cross-border payments with low fees.

Grey, a Y-combinator-backed fintech startup, offers a unique international money transfer service that enables its users to send and receive international payments without restrictions quickly. Cellulant is the company’s payments processor powering its payouts to thousands of Grey’s customers.

On Grey, users can create a foreign USD, GBP, and EUR bank account for free, send money to the UK and Europe, and receive payments from over 88 countries. The company also offers conversion directly to your local currency so that you can spend it easily on the app. Grey allows users to receive foreign payments in their preferred foreign currency and withdraw directly to mobile money or their local bank account.

Idorenyin Obong, CEO, Grey: “Grey was founded in 2021 to empower people to live a location-independent lifestyle. I believe that the least of your worries as a freelancer, remote worker, or digital nomad should be sending or receiving payments, so we’ve made it easy. We like to say that we’re on a mission to make international payments as easy as sending an email. We want to do impactful work to improve how Africa as a continent interacts with money across its borders. I am delighted that we’ve acquired an extensive and fiercely loyal user base.”

The company recently expanded into East Africa, starting with Kenya, and partnerships with payments giant Cellulant and ed-tech leader Moringa. The company has also privately launched Grey Business to several companies.

Femi Aghedo, COO, Grey: “Sending money worldwide is not just an individual problem; it affects African businesses too. Over the last two months, we’ve onboarded several African businesses to our private beta. Honestly, when I listen to the feedback about how much we’ve simplified a previously complex process, it pushes us to do more.”

www.grey.co