Founders of Pesa, a remittance fintech, have firsthand experience with the high costs, inaccessibility, and unreliability of traditional remittance services, which often drive people to use risky informal channels such as WhatsApp groups for money transfers.
After moving to Canada in 2017, Nigerian founders Tolulope Osho, Yusuf Yakubu, and Adewale Afolabi noticed the widespread reliance on informal channels among Africans in the diaspora. This realization inspired them to develop responsive remittance solutions in late 2021, initially targeting the Canada-to-Africa market but now aiming for global reach.
Their efforts come as remittances to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have surged by 38% over the past six years, reaching $656 billion by the end of 2023. The World Bank projects further growth in 2024 and 2025, driven by the increasing demand for fast, affordable, and reliable cross-border remittance services. Digital remittance tools, according to the World Bank, will continue to enhance remittance activities by reducing transaction costs and expanding access to formal money transfer channels.
Innovating Remittance Services
Pesa’s primary objective is to enable users to send money in the “most secure and fastest way possible” and to “remove borders around money,” CEO Tolulope Osho told TechCrunch. The platform functions as a multi-currency wallet, allowing users to send, receive, and hold multiple currencies (currently six).
“The way we’re looking at remittance is that you should keep on transacting when you move to a new country. If I leave Nigeria for Canada, there shouldn’t be any sort of break in transmission with respect to how I view financial services. I should be able to transact back at home like I really never left,” said Osho. With the multi-currency wallet, users can carry their money with them as they transition between countries such as Nigeria, Canada, the EU, the U.S., the U.K., and Ghana.
Global Expansion Efforts
Pesa is in the final stages of obtaining the necessary licenses to launch in the United States, having recently expanded to 27 European Union countries. In the U.K., Pesa operates through a partnership while working to acquire an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license, which will allow it to offer cheaper services, issue and hold e-money on behalf of customers, and develop additional products.
These efforts will enable Pesa’s users in these regions to send money to its five African markets, including Nigeria and Ghana, and to India, which the company entered last March. India, the world’s leading remittance destination, received $120 billion last year, with a projected increase to $129 billion by 2025. As Pesa ramps up its services into Sub-Saharan Africa, the region recently reached $54 billion in remittances, driven by top recipients such as Nigeria and Kenya.
Competitive Landscape and Future Growth
Pesa’s ongoing expansion will intensify competition in the digital remittance space, challenging companies like Tanzania’s Nala, Leatherback, Send by Flutterwave, LemFi, Eversend, and established entities such as Wise and Zepz.
Part of Fast Forward Venture Studio’s current cohort, Pesa has achieved significant milestones, including profitability within two years of operation. The fintech has processed over a million transactions valued at $380 million, garnering 60,000 users, 30% of whom are active. The team remains optimistic about their impact in new markets and the introduction of products like planned multi-currency cards.
“We are going for growth, finishing our expansion and integrations across all the continents we’re expanding to,” said co-founder Yusuf Yakubu. “At that point, we’ll be generating more revenue than we are today.”
