Nigerian FinTech Grey Nets $2M for Cross-Border Payments

Nigeria-based FinTech Grey has raised $2 million in seed funding, toward its goal of simplifying the sending and receiving of foreign payments for Africans, a press release said.

The company’s services allow for the free creation of a bank account, to send money to the U.K. and Europe an 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,” Grey CEO Idorenyin Obong said. “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 also will be expanding into East Africa, starting with Kenya. It has partnerships in the works with payment company Cellulant and ed-tech leader Moringa.

Africa has seen other innovations as of late for sending payments, with PYMNTS writing that Klasha, the San Francisco-based cross-border tech company, raised funds to build infrastructure for cross-border commerce in Africa.

Read more: Klasha Snags $2.4M for African Cross-Border Commerce

Klasha planned to use the money to help international B2B and B2C businesses take online payments in African currencies from consumers there, giving the merchants the money in their preferred currency.

“By 2025, half of the world’s population will live in Africa,” Klasha Founder and CEO Jessica Anuna said in the company announcement. “It is imperative that African consumers are able to remain globally competitive, which includes having access to the goods they want without payment or delivery restrictions.”