In what reports say is one of the largest US venture capital raising rounds for a UK startup, money transfer service WorldRemit has nabbed $100 million in funding, spearheaded by Silicon Valley investor Technology Crossover Ventures.
WorldRemit is currently valued at $500 million, according to unnamed sources, after securing TCV’s backing as an up-and-coming “fintech” company. The firm offers online money transfer services. The startup said it would use the capital raised to expand internationally, especially into the US, where it already runs an office in Denver, Colorado. Reports say the firm will look to employ 200 workers at the Denver location and to become fully licensed in the US by year’s end.
Ismail Ahmed, who founded WorldRemit and currently serves as its chief executive officer, said the latest fundraising will propel the firm into the US market. “The US is part of our expansion plan and that is now happening,” he said.
Ahmed isn’t the first UK financial technology startup to eye the US market. Reports note that TransferWise and Funding Circle both secured significant funding and soon launched operations across the pond. TransferWire raised $58 million just last month in funding lead by venture capitalist Andreessen Horowitz, based in California. Peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle similarly raised $65 million last year from Union Square Ventures and Ribbit Capital, both US investors.
The World Bank reports that $529 billion worth of money transfers are made across the globe every year, but industry experts are keeping a close watch on the online remittances market, expected to become its own multibillion dollar market. Currently online money transfers account for about 5 percent of the global market.
Despite its recent attention to the US market, WorldRemit lives up to its global name, supporting money sending in 50 nations and money receiving in 117.