LemFi bags $33m in Series A funding round to fuel global expansion
Fintech start-up LemFi, previously known as Lemon Finance, has secured $33 million in a Series A funding round led by Left Lane Capital.
LemFi raises $33m Series A funding
The round also saw participation from Y-Combinator, Zrosk, Global Founders Capital, and Olive Tree. According to Crunchbase, the latest round brings LemFi’s total funding to $46.8 million to date.
LemFi was founded in 2020 by Ridwan Olalere and Rian Cochran to provide immigrants with better access to financial services.
Through the LemFi mobile app, users can sign up “within minutes of residency” in a new country and use its multi-currency offering to make payments, receive money, and hold and save in the currencies of both their origin country and country of residence. LemFi also offers “instant” international transfers with zero fees for transfers as well as account maintenance services.
LemFi launched in Canada in 2020 to enable “easy and low-cost” remittances to Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. In 2021, it expanded to the UK, acquiring UK-based company Rightcard Payment Services to leverage its electronic money institution (EMI) licence to offer more services including e-money accounts and higher transaction limits.
With the latest investment, LemFi plans to expand further in the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia. It will also deploy capital towards developing new product offerings based on customer needs.
Commenting on the raise, Olarere says traditional banks and other leading neobanks “have always steered clear of less common or more volatile currencies”.
“This has driven immigrants to often use unsafe, informal channels or to stitch together several other services to solve some of their basic financial needs. Until now,” he adds.
