Cross-border payments fintech TerraPay gets $20m from BII
TLDR
- BII provides $20 million senior secured loan to TerraPay for facilitating lower-cost digital money transfers to Africa.
- TerraPay connects traditional money transfer operators and digital fintechs with major mobile money operators in Africa.
- Funding from BII will be used to pre-fund increased remittance volumes to key African corridors, including Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, Uganda, and more.
British International Investment (BII), the UK's development finance institution and impact investor, is extended a $20 million senior secured loan to TerraPay, a global cross-border payments processor with a strong focus on remittance transfers to Africa.
TerraPay's network directly connects traditional money transfer operators like Western Union and digital-only fintechs such as Wise with major mobile money operators in Africa, including M-Pesa, MTN MoMo, and Airtel Money.
This facilitates lower-cost digital money transfers, addressing the challenges of high transfer fees and slow settlement times for the African diaspora sending money home.
Key Takeaways
Remittance costs for the sub-Saharan African region remain the highest in the world. In 2022, sending $200 to the region cost an average of 8%, compared to the global average cost of 6.2%. This is more than double the Sustainable Development Goal target of 3%, according to the World Bank. BII’s funding will be used as part of TerraPay’s working capital to pre-fund increasing remittance volumes to Africa. It will prioritize key African corridors, with high volumes anticipated in Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, Uganda, Tanzania, Cameroon, Mali, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, and Mozambique.
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