Africa
Gray raises $2 million to simplify cross-border payments in Africa
Idorenyin Obong
Gray (https://Grey.co), a fintech started by two Nigerians to simplify sending and receiving foreign payments for Africans, has raised $2 million in seed funding.
The service offered by Gray allows its clients to have virtual international bank accounts for free and enjoy a seamless payment process abroad.
“Grey (https://Grey.co) was founded in 2021 to empower people to live a location-independent lifestyle,” says Gray CEO Idorenyin Obong.
“I think 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 make international payments as easy as sending an email.
We want to do impactful work to improve the way Africa as a continent interacts with money across its borders.
I am delighted that we have acquired a large and fiercely loyal user base.” At Grey, you can create a foreign bank account in USD, GBP and EUR for free, send money to the UK and Europe and receive payments from over 88 countries.
The company also offers conversion directly to your local currency so you can easily spend it on the app.
Gray enables users to receive foreign payments in their preferred foreign currency and withdraw directly to mobile money or their local bank account.
In addition to the funding announcement, Gray also announced its expansion into East Africa, starting with Kenya, and partnerships with payment giant Cellulant and edtech leader Moringa.
Traveling to Kenya is much easier with Gray (https://bit.ly/3Q5bCyY) because you can pay suppliers directly to M-pesa.
For example, suppose you are a traveler on a trip to Nairobi.
In that case, you can convert any supported currency to Kenyan shillings and pay for services directly to M-Pesa or other mobile money accounts.
Gray is the easiest way to send money abroad and between African countries.
The company plans to expand to more East African countries in the coming months.
It has included support for Ugandan shillings in the app, bringing the total number of supported currencies to six.
This addition means that gray customers in Nigeria and Kenya can send money to mobile money accounts in Uganda.
The company has also privately pitched Gray Business to various companies.
COO Femi Aghedo says: “Sending money around the world is not just an individual problem; it also affects African companies.
In the last two months, we have added several African companies to our private beta.
Honestly, when I hear feedback about how much we’ve simplified a previously complex process, it pushes us to do more.”
Grey’s seed funding round included participation from Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Heirloom Fund, True Culture Fund, angel investors Alan Rutledge, Samvit Ramadurgam, Karthik Ramakrishnan, and other high-profile investors.
According to CEO Idorenyin Obong, with this new round of capital they plan to launch into new markets and expand their product range to include not only remittances, but also person-to-person and business-to-business payments for all Africans to enjoy.
of seamless cross-border payments with low fees.
Gray services are available in Kenya and Nigeria through the Gray website (https://Grey.co), Play Store (https://bit.ly/3Q0zcfY) and App Store (https://link.
grey.co/).
iOS app).
