WorldRemit Expands Into California

Mobile money transfer service WorldRemit announced Wednesday (Feb. 24) that it has launched in California.

Regarded as the U.K.’s fasted growing startup, WorldRemit said it has set its sights on California, as the state is home to one in four migrants in the U.S. California will also stand as the company’s second largest market to date.

“WorldRemit allows people to send money to family and friends with the speed and convenience they have come to expect in our connected world. Just as WhatsApp and Skype changed the way we communicate globally, WorldRemit is modernizing our financial connections,” Ismail Ahmed, CEO and founder of WorldRemit, said in a press release.

“By sending to more Mobile Money services than anyone else, we are showing what the next phase of international money transfers looks like – instant transfer of money from person to person, anytime, anywhere.”

WorldRemit customers worldwide now send 400,000 transfers every month, with around 25 percent being moved to Mobile Money wallets.

To date, the company has raised nearly $200 million in funding and just weeks ago announced a $45 million financing round from TriplePoint Capital and Silicon Valley Bank, reportedly at a $500 million valuation. And that’s in a remittance market that will be worth $610 billion in 2016, according to figures from World Bank.

This new funding, which could give it another edge against Western Union and other money transfer companies gaining steam, will help its business expand across multiple markets.

Earlier this month, Ahmed told TechCrunch the plans are to expand in both developing markets and in places like the U.S. This strategy is focused on having a presence on both sides of the spectrum — where money is sent and where it is being sent from.

“I think there are a number of companies in the money transfer, but when you are looking specifically at companies targeting emerging markets like we are, there are really only a handful of bigger players, and I think we are the most global,” Ahmed told TechCrunch.