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As Africa\u2019s tech ecosystem booms, more local talent is landing remote jobs with Big Tech firms and global startups. But getting paid remains a challenge for many of these freelancers and remote workers. They struggle to open accounts that accept US dollars, with foreign employers using incompatible payment platforms, and face slow invoicing and payment processes.<\/p>\n
Enter Raenest<\/a>, one of the many local fintechs that has stepped in to fix this. The company just raised $11 million in Series A funding, led by QED Investors, to expand its reach across Africa. <\/p>\n Through its retail product, Geegpay<\/a>, launched in early 2022, Raenest offers freelancers virtual USD, GBP, and EUR accounts. These accounts help them receive payments, manage multi-currency wallets, and convert currencies. Raenest also provides virtual and physical debit cards that accept multiple currencies like U.S. dollars.<\/p>\n Last March, the Lagos-based Raenest expanded beyond freelancers with Raenest for Business<\/a>, a platform that provides the same financial services to African businesses, allowing them to send and receive international payments.<\/p>\n Interestingly, Raenest didn\u2019t start with freelancers in mind. Victor Alade<\/a>, along with co-founders Sodruldeen Mustapha<\/a> and Richard Oyome<\/a>, launched the company in 2022 as an Employer of Record (EOR)\u2014 assisting foreign companies to pay African employees compliantly.<\/p>\n However, a couple of months in, the founders realized the real problem wasn\u2019t with companies sending payments, it was with individuals struggling to receive them.<\/p>\n \u201cA U.S. company might not care if a payment is delayed by five days. But for someone in Nigeria or Kenya, that\u2019s a big deal\u2014especially when converting to local currency becomes another hurdle,\u201d CEO Alade, a former software engineer at Jumia and Andela, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n Also drawing from his remote work experience, Alade and his co-founders, who also bring experience working with African fintechs like LemFi and FairMoney, pivoted Raenest\u2019s focus to addressing this pain point.<\/p>\n Geegpay quickly gained traction among freelancers, but business signups began to rise as well. The team realized that African companies also needed foreign accounts to streamline cross-border transactions. \u201cBusinesses started asking if they could get fixed bank accounts to simplify payments,\u201d Alade added. \u201cThat\u2019s when we started thinking: How big is this opportunity? Who else is building for Africa?\u201d<\/p>\n The addition of business banking couldn\u2019t have come at a better time. Around the same period, U.S.-based fintech Mercury started restricting business accounts<\/a> from several countries, including parts of Africa. This created a gap in the market, giving local fintechs like Raenest an opportunity to serve business customers.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the EOR space was quite competitive with major players like Deel starting to look into the continent<\/a> more closely. <\/p>\n These events made Raenest lean into what it saw as a better opportunity: offering African businesses a way to receive and send international payments.<\/p>\n That bet is paying off. Since launching in 2022, Raenest has processed over $1 billion in payment volume \u2014 a 160% growth between 2023 and 2024 \u2014 serving freelancers and businesses across the continent. Today, more than 700,000 individuals use the platform to receive payments from global platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and Gusto. They also use it for online shopping and subscriptions.<\/p>\n On the other hand, over 300 businesses rely on Raenest to collect payments from international customers, raise capital from investors, and make cross-border payments. Its client list includes African startups like Moniepoint, Helium Health, Fez Delivery, and Matta.<\/p>\n Raenest competes with several fintech startups offering multicurrency accounts to customers in Africa, including Afriex<\/a>, Cleva<\/a>, Grey<\/a>, Verto<\/a>, and Leatherback<\/a>. Alade argues that Raenest has an edge because it targets individuals and businesses, unlike most players that cater exclusively to one customer type. Beyond its dual approach, Raenest prioritizes speed, security, reliability, and compliance to retain users, Alade said.<\/p>\n Raenest\u2019s ambitions extend beyond cross-border payments. \u201cWe want to create a safe and seamless financial ecosystem for Africans \u2014 helping them earn, invest, and grow their wealth, no matter where they are in the world,\u201d Alade said, hinting at upcoming product launches.<\/p>\n Currently, the three-year-old fintech operates in Nigeria under a money transfer license. As part of its next growth phase, the company will look to deepen its presence in Nigeria while securing licenses for expansion into Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, and the U.S. This move will allow Raenest to serve Africans on the continent and in the diaspora.<\/p>\n With banking partnerships in the U.S. and U.K., Raenest is also working to secure more in these regions as it scales. Along the way, the company aims to attract top talent to support its expansion even as it brings Geegpay and Raenest for Business under a single brand, Raenest.<\/p>\n The latest $11 million Series A round brings Raenest\u2019s total funding to $14.3 million. <\/p>\n Lead investor QED, one of the world\u2019s top fintech VC firms, has been steadily increasing its footprint in Africa since 2022. It has backed five startups providing financial services on the continent: Moniepoint<\/a>, Remedial Health<\/a>, Precium<\/a>, Cedar Money<\/a>, and now Raenest.<\/p>\n \u201cWe firmly believe that by bridging the gap between local and global markets, Raenest will unlock new opportunities for African entrepreneurs, freelancers and businesses, ultimately driving greater economic empowerment across the continent,\u201d said Gbenga Ajayi, partner and head of Africa and the Middle East at QED Investors. <\/p>\n Other investors in the round include pan-African early-to-growth-stage VC firms, such as Norrsken22, Ventures Platform, P1 Ventures, and Seedstars.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nGrowth beyond freelancers<\/h2>\n
Scaling to serve individuals and businesses<\/h2>\n
Expansion plans<\/h2>\n