As it prepares to launch in Canada, US mobile money transfer outfit Remitly has raised $38.5 million in a Series C funding round led by Stripes Group.
DFJ, DN Capital, Bezos Expeditions, Vulcan Capital and Trilogy Equity Partners, among others, joined the round, which sees Stripes Group partner Ron Shah join Remitly’s board.
One of several fintech players targeting the $588 billion global remittance market, Remitly lets people in the US send funds back to friends and relatives in the Philippines, Mexico and India.
Instead of relying on third-party aggregators, the firm has built a proprietary network of banks and cash pickup locations to deliver funds quickly and securely. Its customers are now transferring more than $1 billion annually and the company grew over 400% in its first quarter of 2016 compared to the previous year.
Having established itself the US, Remitly is now targeting people living in Canada, which has 7.4 million migrants, sending home around $23 billion a year, much of it to India and the Philippines.
The new funding will be used to hire more staff and work on expanding the Remitly service to other countries.
"Since day one our strategy has been to bring our service to the largest addressable remittance markets in the world," says Remitly CEO Matt Oppenheimer. "With this new financing, we are able to continue executing against that strategy while building a global footprint in the largest corridors which enables us to serve the most customers."