LONDON, United Kingdom – January 14, 2025 – LemFi, a transformative financial services platform designed specifically for immigrant communities, has raised $53 million in Series B funding led by Highland Europe. This latest round brings the company’s total capital raised to $85 million to date, with participation from previous investors including Left Lane Capital, Palm Drive Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, and Y-Combinator.
Since its founding in 2021, LemFi has revolutionized how immigrant communities access financial services, starting with international remittance and payments. The platform enables diaspora communities in Europe and North America to send money reliably and affordably to emerging markets such as China, India, Kenya, Nigeria, and Pakistan. With over one million customers and a recent milestone of $1 billion in monthly transactions, LemFi is poised for continued growth, expanding rapidly across new regions, including Asia, and growing 30% month-on-month.
LemFi’s impact extends far beyond remittances. Remittances are a vital financial lifeline for many families in emerging markets, and in some countries, they account for a significant portion of foreign exchange. For instance, in 2023, India received $120 billion in remittances, and the African remittance market is expected to reach $500 billion by 2035. Despite the importance of these transfers, traditional banks and private agents, which control about 60% of the market, continue to charge high fees and take several days to process transactions. LemFi’s model, however, enables users to send money efficiently at low cost, improving access to financial resources for people in need.
The platform has become the trusted financial partner for diaspora communities in Canada, the UK, and the USA, providing services to 20 countries. After four years of building trust and gaining a loyal user base, LemFi is now expanding its services and features to create a comprehensive financial services hub for immigrants worldwide.
LemFi was co-founded by Ridwan Olalere (CEO) and Rian Cochran (CFO), who previously worked together at fintech unicorn OPay. Their shared experiences in software development and fintech inspired them to launch LemFi to tackle the challenges they saw in cross-border payments. The duo now leads a multicultural team of over 300 people across Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia, drawing on their diverse backgrounds to make financial services accessible to everyone.
With the new funding, LemFi plans to focus on three core areas: expanding its financial services offerings, scaling its payment network licenses and partnerships to provide hyper-localized services, and hiring talent globally to support its growth. CEO Ridwan Olalere shared, “When we started building LemFi, we were told remittance had already been solved. But for too many people, it is still too slow, cumbersome, and expensive. By targeting the communities most in need, we’ve built LemFi into the go-to remittance service for one million people. This new funding will help us expand to new countries and build a comprehensive financial services hub for immigrants globally.”
Sam Brooks, Partner at Highland Europe, praised the platform’s growth and success, stating, “LemFi’s mission to provide trusted, reliable access to financial services for immigrant communities has inspired an incredibly loyal customer base and generated impressive growth. We’re excited to partner with Ridwan and Rian as they scale LemFi and continue to expand into new markets.”
LemFi’s continued success and global expansion reflect its ability to address the needs of immigrant communities and provide affordable, reliable, and efficient financial services. The company’s growth is set to accelerate further as it adds new features and expands its reach to even more regions, solidifying its position as a leader in the fintech space.
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