Users of Nigerian fintech startup Lemonade Finance can now send money to Senegal, Ivory Coast, Benin, Cameroon, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.
Founded in 2020 by Ridwan Olalere and Rian Cochran and a participant in Y Combinator’s W21 batch last year, Lemonade Finance allows Africans abroad to send and receive money from their home countries in efficient, affordable and fast ways. Its app allows users to hold their balances in the currencies that matter to them, easily converting one to the other.
The company already offered local and international transfers to Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) instantly without hidden fees, and makes international transfers at the real market exchange rate.
Thanks to a new integration, Lemonade users in the UK and Canada can now send money to Senegal, Ivory Coast, Benin Republic, Cameroon, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda. This new integration opens Lemonade Finance to a larger share of the African market, and cements its promise to “build the biggest neobank for African immigrants”.
“The addition of Senegal, Ivory Coast, Benin Republic, Cameroon, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda was data-driven. These six countries have nationals abroad who often need to send money back home,” said Afeez Gbotosho, Lemonade’s head of products.
Lemonade claims to have thousands of users across North America and Europe, and in the wake of its Y Combinator participation raised a US$725,000 pre-seed funding round that featured the likes of Microtraction, Ventures Platform, and Acuity Venture Partners.
