Afriex

Afriex is a fintech company specializing in cross-border payments, founded in 2019 by Tope Alabi and John Obirije. The company, with headquarters in San Francisco, emerged from the founders' personal frustrations with the high costs and slow speeds of sending money from the US to Nigeria. Tope Alabi, the CEO, has a background in electrical and software engineering, with experience at companies like ConsenSys, which informed his approach to leveraging blockchain technology. Co-founder and CTO John Obirije brings extensive experience as a full-stack developer and technical engineer in remittance technology.

The firm operates an app-based digital wallet that facilitates money transfers by utilizing blockchain technology to convert funds into stablecoins, aiming to bypass traditional, slower payment rails. This model allows Afriex to offer faster and often free transactions by arbitraging currency and cryptocurrency exchange rates to generate revenue. The service initially launched in Nigeria and the U.S. and has since expanded its operations to include Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, the UK, Canada, and several European countries. More recently, Afriex has expanded into the major Asian remittance markets of China, India, and Pakistan to serve African merchants and diaspora communities.

The company targets a diverse client base, including immigrants, expatriates, freelancers, and businesses needing to manage international payments. Its core service allows users to send, receive, and make payments globally. A key feature is the "Global Accounts" service, which lets users in Africa create and manage multi-currency accounts (USD, GBP, EUR) within a single interface, simplifying the process of receiving international payments. Additional features include payment scheduling and the ability to swap between currencies at competitive rates. The platform is accessible via a mobile app on iOS and Android devices, designed for ease of use with a dashboard providing real-time visibility of balances, transaction history, and exchange rates.

Afriex has secured significant financial backing, raising a total of $11.3 million over three funding rounds. The journey began with a pre-seed investment from Y Combinator in its Summer 2020 batch, followed by a $1.2 million seed round in March 2021. A major milestone was the $10 million Series A round in April 2022, led by Sequoia Capital China and Dragonfly Capital, which valued the company at $60 million. This capital is being used to expand its services, including a partnership with Visa to offer credit and debit cards.

Keywords: cross-border payments, remittance, fintech, blockchain money transfer, stablecoins, digital wallet, Africa payments, international money transfer, Tope Alabi, John Obirije, Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital China, Dragonfly Capital, multi-currency account, global payments, financial inclusion, Nigeria fintech, diaspora finance, mobile payments, currency exchange, emerging markets, send money to Africa, payment infrastructure, low-cost transfers