UK-BASED online money transfer start-up WorldRemit, which also services Zimbabwe, has raised $100m in its latest round of funding.
The investment will be used to bring its low-cost transfer service to more countries.
The funding round was led by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), with participation from existing investor Accel Partners.
Commenting on the development, WorldRemit founder and CEO, Ismail Ahmed said: “I am delighted that TCV is joining WorldRemit in our mission to enable the seamless movement of money between people across borders.
“We have an amazing opportunity to shake-up a stale industry and to save our customers time and money. We are taking money transfers into the mobile age, where people send from apps and receive on Mobile Money services.”
TCV General Partner John Rosenberg added: “The $550bn global remittance market is undergoing significant disruption with a clear shift to online and mobile solutions for international money transfer. 
“We are delighted to partner with Ismail and the WorldRemit team, who are at the forefront in offering convenient, low-cost solutions, backed by a market leading technology platform, compliance infrastructure, and geographic footprint”.
The company said it was now processing 250,000 transfers every month.
Customers can send money from 50 countries and receive money in 117 countries, but the service will soon expand to cover more countries and currencies.
Unlike banks and other services for international money transfers, WorldRemit only charges a small fee per transaction.
Launched in 2010 and headquartered in London, the company employs more than 100 people and has previously secured funding from £25m Series A funding from Accel Partners and £4.7m seed funding from supporters at the London Business School.
Ahmed said WorldRemit was mostly used by expats and migrant workers who want to send money to families and friends back home.
“Popular receiving countries include the Philippines, India, Ghana, Zimbabwe,” he said
“We also offer a variety of ways for people to receive their money, including on mobile money wallets — which are very popular in developing countries, where people tend to use their mobile phones instead of cash.”
He added that said the money transfer industry was finally starting to feel the effects of the “internet revolution” and that old models were changing extremely quickly.Advertisement

“People will no longer tolerate the inconvenience and expense of using offline, brick and mortar agents when they can just pick up their smartphone and send money quickly and at low cost to friends and family around the world.”