Ripple-Based Remittance Firm Raises $1.7M
Ripple, Mastercard and Barclays are among the investors in a «next-generation remittance service» targeted at overseas Filipino workers.
SendFriend has raised $1.7 million in a funding round from MIT Media Lab, Barclays, the Mastercard Foundation, Ripple, Techstars, Mahindra Finance, 2020 Ventures, and 8 Decimal Capital to develop its service, the U.S. remittance firm announced in a press release.
Founded at MIT and an alumnus of Barclay's accelerator program, SendFriend uses Ripple’s xRapid product for cross-border payments. It will open its first remittance corridor between the U.S. and the Philippines, converting between USD, XRP and Philippine pesos.
«We are humbled by the support of our investors, who share in our vision to reduce the costs and improve the experience for the millions of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who send money home to support their families,» SendFriend CEO and co-founder David Lighton said. «This investment will allow us to build out our team, focus on community engagement, and marketing efforts,» he added.
The company says it uses distributed ledger technology to «to circumvent the corresponding banking system,» and has fees 65 percent below the industry average.
