TransferGo raises $10 million to expand remittance business in Asia, doubling valuation

Image credits: Daumantas Dvilinskas, TransferGo Co-Founder and CEO

TransferGo, a UK-based fintech company best known as a consumer platform for global money transfers, raises $10 million in growth funding from Taiwan-based investor Taiwania Capital as it aims to expand in Asia Pacific. Raised a round. The last time it raised $50 million in a Series C funding round was in 2021.

TransferGo claims that this new investment has doubled its valuation from Dealroom’s valuation of $200 million to $300 million as of September 2021 to approximately $600 million.

TransferGo co-founder and CEO Daumantas Dvilinskas told TechCrunch: We have achieved business sustainability, are profitable and still have proceeds from the previous funding round. Therefore, we are making a profit. We don’t need external capital to grow. ”

However, he saw an opportunity to raise funds from Asia to expand his business there. “We raised the money because we wanted to expand faster in the Asia-Pacific region. So that’s the next frontier for us,” he said. “We’re still taking customers away from incumbents. 75% are cash, bank, Western Union customers. That’s still the gorilla in the room.”

He attributes TransferGo’s growth to a focus on consumer experience. “We’ve always been probably the most consumer-centric company in this space,” he said. “This is also evident in our trusted reviews, which stand out above and beyond others. We truly develop products for our consumers, which is why we offer 90% instant payments, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Consumers love 24/7 instant payments. And it’s not easy. It takes time. Problems with existing technology need to be resolved.”

Still, not everything was smooth sailing. Last year, TransferGo was fined €310,000 by the Bank of Lithuania for AML (anti-money laundering) failures.

“We have been inspected and found some procedural gaps that we filled by the end of the year,” Dvilinskas told me. “Regulations are becoming tighter and tighter, but we received good feedback from them after the mediation, so we are pleased to be able to lift them.”

TransferGo primarily competes with market dominant Western Union, but competitors also include startups such as Remitly and Wise.