Grey, a Nigerian fintech startup, has raised $2 million in seed funding to expand into new African markets. According to the one-year-old company, the funding will also allow it to expand its product suite to include remittances and person-to-person and business-to-business payments, allowing every African to enjoy seamless cross-border payments with low fees.
Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Heirloom Fund, True Culture Fund, and angel investors Alan Rutledge, Samvit Ramadurgam, Karthik Ramakrishnan, and others participated in the seed funding round.
Grey’s platform allows users to open a free foreign USD, GBP, and EUR bank account, send money to the UK and Europe and receive payments from over 88 countries. According to the company, it also directly converts its customers’ local currency so they can spend it easily on the app. Users can also receive foreign payments in their preferred currency and withdraw them directly to mobile money or their local bank account.
Idorenyin Obong, Grey’s co-founder and CEO, stated during the fundraising announcement that Grey was created in 2021 to empower people to live a location-independent lifestyle. He believes that sending or receiving payments should be the least of your concerns as a freelancer, remote worker, or digital nomad, so they’ve made it simple.
