FinTech Gray Nets $2M for Cross-Border Payments
Nigeria-based fintech Gray has raised $2 million in seed funding, towards the goal of simplifying the sending and receiving of foreign payments for Africans, a press release so.
The company’s services allow free bank account creation, to send money to the UK and Europe and receive payments from dozens of countries.
It also offers conversion directly to one’s local currency, for easier spending.
“Grey was founded in 2021 to empower people to live a location-independent lifestyle,” said Gray CEO Idorenyin Obong. “I believe the least of your worries as a freelancer, telecommuter or digital nomad should be sending or receiving payments, so we’ve made it easy. We like to say that we aim 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 borders. I am happy that we have gained an extensive and very loyal user base.”
The company will also expand to East Africa, starting in Kenya. It has partnerships in the works with payments company Cellulant and ed-tech leader Moringa.
Africa has seen other innovations of late in sending payments, and PYMNTS wrote that Klasha, the San Francisco-based cross-border technology company, raised funds to build infrastructure for cross-border trade in Africa.
Read more: Klasha takes $2.4 million for African cross-border trade
Klasha planned to use the money to help international B2B and B2C companies take online payments in African currencies from consumers there and give the money to merchants in their preferred currency.
“By 2025, half of the world’s population will live in Africa,” said Klasha founder and CEO Jessica Anuna in the company’s announcement. “It is critical that African consumers are able to remain globally competitive, which includes having access to the goods they want without payment or delivery restrictions.”
NEW PYMNTS SURVEY FINDS 3 IN 4 CONSUMERS WITH STRONG DEMAND FOR SUPER APPS
About: The findings of PYMNTS’ new study, “The Super App Shift: How Consumers Want To Save, Shop And Spend In The Connected Economy”, a collaboration with PayPal, analyzed the responses of 9,904 consumers in Australia, Germany, the UK and the US and showed strong demand for a single multi-functional super app instead of using dozens of individuals.
