Gray, a fintech began by two Nigerians to simplify sending and receiving international funds for Africans, has raised $2 million in seed funding.
The service provided by Gray allows its clients to have digital worldwide financial institution accounts at no cost and revel in a seamless international cost course of.
“Gray (https://Gray.co) was based in 2021 to empower folks to reside a location-independent life-style,” CEO of Gray, Idorenyin Obong, says. “I consider that the least of your worries as a freelancer, distant employee, or digital nomad needs to be sending or receiving funds, so we’ve made it straightforward. We wish to say that we’re on a mission to make worldwide funds as straightforward as sending an e-mail. We wish to do impactful work to enhance how Africa as a continent interacts with cash throughout its borders. I’m delighted that we’ve acquired an in depth and fiercely loyal consumer base.”
On Gray, you’ll be able to create a international USD, GBP, and EUR checking account at no cost, ship cash to the UK and Europe, and obtain funds from over 88 international locations. The corporate additionally provides conversion on to your native foreign money so as to spend it simply on the app. Gray permits customers to obtain international funds of their most popular international foreign money and withdraw on to cell cash or their native checking account.
Along with the funding announcement, Gray additionally introduced Its enlargement into East Africa, beginning with Kenya, and partnerships with funds big Cellulant and ed-tech chief Moringa. Travelling to Kenya is far simpler with Gray (https://bit.ly/3Q5bCyY) as a result of you’ll be able to pay distributors on to M-pesa. For instance, suppose you’re a traveller on a visit to Nairobi. In that case, you’ll be able to convert any supported currencies to Kenyan Shillings and pay for companies on to M-Pesa, or different cell cash accounts. Gray is the best technique to ship cash overseas and between African international locations. The corporate plans to increase into extra East African international locations within the coming months. It has included assist for Ugandan Shillings on the app, bringing the whole variety of supported currencies to 6. This addition signifies that Gray clients in Nigeria and Kenya can ship cash to cell cash accounts in Uganda.
The corporate has additionally privately launched Gray Enterprise to a number of firms. COO Femi Aghedo says, “Sending cash worldwide isn’t just a person downside; it impacts African companies too. During the last two months, we’ve onboarded a number of African companies to our personal beta. Truthfully, once I take heed to the suggestions about how a lot we’ve simplified a beforehand advanced course of, it pushes us to do extra.”
Gray’s seed funding spherical included participation from Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Heirloom Fund, True Tradition Fund, angel traders Alan Rutledge, Samvit Ramadurgam, Karthik Ramakrishnan, and different high-profile traders. In response to the CEO, Idorenyin Obong, with this new spherical of capital, they plan to launch into new markets and lengthen their product suite to incorporate not simply remittances but in addition person-to-person and business-to-business funds so each African can take pleasure in seamless cross-border funds with low charges.