LumoXchange
LumoXchange. The world's money transfer marketplace.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor | €0.0 | round | |
| investor | €0.0 | round | |
$3.3m | Seed | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
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LumoXchange operated as a financial technology company that provided an online marketplace for international money transfers. The firm was founded in 2015 by Maf Sonko, who served as its CEO. Sonko's personal background as an immigrant from Gambia who fled political unrest with his family in 2000 directly informed the company's mission. He identified a lack of transparency and high costs associated with sending remittances abroad and aimed to create a more equitable system.
The company's platform was designed to function like a price-comparison website for currency exchange, allowing users to search, compare rates from various financial institutions, and complete the transfer on a single platform. This model sought to increase competition among local financial partners in the destination countries, thereby lowering costs for the sender. LumoXchange established what it called Local Exchange Networks (LENs), which were partnerships with local banks, mobile money operators, and forex bureaus in the receiving countries. These partners would list their exchange rates on the platform, and users could select the most favorable one. The business model was based on charging a flat fee for each transaction, with a projected average fee of $5.99.
After participating in the VCFinTech Accelerator in 2016, sponsored by FIS, LumoXchange relocated its headquarters from Atlanta to Little Rock, Arkansas. The company officially launched its marketplace in June 2018, initially offering services for transfers to Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Ghana, and Nigeria, with plans to expand to the Philippines. During a pilot phase, the company reported processing a significant portion of inbound payments to Gambia with a high customer retention rate. LumoXchange raised a total of $584K over several funding rounds. According to industry data, the company ceased operations around May 2020.
Keywords: LumoXchange, Maf Sonko, money transfer marketplace, remittance platform, currency exchange, peer-to-peer payments, international money transfer, fintech, cross-border payments, Local Exchange Networks, exchange rate comparison, remittance to Africa, VCFinTech Accelerator, FIS, Little Rock startup, financial transparency, global payments, online remittance, send money abroad, foreign exchange