LemFi, a financial services platform for immigrant communities has acquired UK fintech Pillar to expand its credit services. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Founded in 2021 by Opay veterans Ridwan Olalere and Rian Cochran, LemFi initially focused on remittance, helping over two million people across Europe and North America send money to 20 emerging markets.
Having recently integrated credit into its core product, the company is now looking to expand further though Pillar, founded by Revolut alumni Ashutosh Bhatt and Adam Lewis to provide recently arrived immigrants to the UK with lending products.
LemFi secures access to Pillar's proprietary credit scoring technology, its FCA credit licence, and Bhatt and Lewis, who join the team.
Around five million people in the UK and 30 million in the US are 'credit invisible,' making them four times more likely to be excluded from essential services like loans, credit cards, and mobile contracts than the general population.
Pillar’s alternative credit-scoring model uses global credit insights and non-traditional data to solve this, assessing eligibility and helping users build a financial footprint from day one.
LemFi’s first credit offering gained more than 8000 users just six weeks into its private beta, growing 18% week-on-week. Customers receive a virtual card, instantly usable via Apple Pay or Google Pay. Physical Visa cards will launch later this year when the service is rolled out to the public.
Now, plans are underway for more offerings, says CEO Olalere: "With this acquisition, we plan to offer Credit Cards to customers, starting with the UK and roll out the full suite of LemFi Credit features publicly."