Asides from the fact that most Fintechs in Nigeria are simplifying financial transactions for consumers and businesses, as well as ensuring safe transfer of money both locally and internationally.
Finding a secure way to send and receive money seems not to be enough, as a high percentage of people are particular about the ease of sending and receiving money internationally.
Nigerian Fintech Startup, Grey has stepped in to solve this challenge. The company recently raised $2 million in seed funding to enable its customers to have virtual International bank accounts for free and enjoy a seamless foreign payment process.
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This means that African users, most especially freelancers and remote workers will be allowed to set up virtual International bank accounts that will enable them to receive and send money with ease.
On the Grey platform, users can also create a foreign U.S Dollar, Great Britain Pounds, and Euro bank account for free, and also receive payments from over 88 countries.
Grey also offers conversion directly to local currency, so that users can spend funds easily on the app and also allows them to receive foreign payments in their preferred currency, and withdraw directly to their mobile wallet or local bank account.
The startup which was founded by two Nigerians, Idoreyin Obong and Femi Aghedo in the year 2021, has since expanded its operations into East Africa, starting with Kenya where it has already partnered with two payment giant companies, which are; Cellulant and Edtech Upsstart Moringa.
According to Grey’s CEO, Mr. Idoreyin Obong, he disclosed that with this $2m seed raised, the company plans to launch into new markets and extend its product suite to include not only remittances but also person-to-person and business-to-business payments, so that every African can enjoy seamless cross-border payments with low fees.
In his words;
“Grey was founded to empower people to live a location-independent lifestyle. I believe that the least of your worries as a freelancer, remote worker, or digital nomad should be sending or receiving payments, so we’ve made it easy.
“We like to say that we are on a mission to take International payments as easy as sending an email. We want to do impactful work to improve how Africa as a continent interacts with money across its borders. I am delighted that we’ve acquired an extensive and fiercely loyal user base”.
According to Grey’s Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Demo Aghedo, he disclosed that sending money worldwide is not just an individual problem, but also businesses in Africa are affected.
He further went on to reveal that the company has boarded several African businesses to its private beta, and the feedback so far has been positive.
Grey claims to have about 100,000 individual users and since the beginning of the year, its transaction volumes have increased by 200%.
Recall back in the days when it used to be a very challenging issue for Nigerian freelancers to receive cross border payments which can really be frustrating. Well, not anymore, all thanks to Grey and other fintechs that have stepped in to eliminate this challenge.