The company is planning to use these funds to extent its growing team as well as its reach to other markets
Cross-border payments to Nigeria has long been a tedious process as it involves paying of transfer fee to remittance platforms and potential delays in money transfer, especially when done from the U.S. To solve this issue, several crypto remittance platforms are making efforts that aim at reducing fund transfer time and fees.
Recently, YC-backed startup, Afriex hit the headlines when it announced securing $1.2 million in a seed funding round. Sources close to this investment state that the startup is looking to scale up its team and expand presence across other markets.
Founded in 2019 by Tope Alabi and John Obirije, Afriex offers instant, zero-fee money transfers facility to Africans. The platform provides features like allowing cash deposits in its app, transfer money to a bank accounts and withdraw money to a connected bank.
Similar to other crypto remittance platforms, Afriex has built its business on stablecoins cryptocurrency. To elaborate, the company purchases cryptocurrency from one country and sells it in another to provide better exchange rates, a strategy that does not resonate with popular platforms like Western Union and Wise that continue to rely on traditional banking systems.
In 2020, Afriex has revealed processing about $500,000/month in transaction fees and was being used by individuals across more than 30 countries. During that period, Afriex only had presence in Nigeria and the U.S. However, the platform now has spread its operations across Kenya, Ghana, and Uganda.
The company claims to be processing millions of dollars every month. Although, Afriex on its website states that customers can only transfer funds to and from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, The U.S. and Canada.
Source Credit: https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/22/afriex-raises-1-2m-seed-to-scale-its-payments-and-remittances-platform-across-africa/