LemFi has acquired London-based fintech company Pillar in a move aimed at expanding its credit services for immigrants in the UK and beyond.
The acquisition provides LemFi with access to Pillar’s proprietary credit scoring technology and its Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) credit license.
This will allow the company to integrate credit services into its existing platform, which currently focuses on remittances and cross-border payments.
Founded in 2021, LemFi enables immigrants to open multi-currency accounts and conduct international transactions at low cost.
The firm now serves over two million customers across the US, UK, Canada, and Europe, with monthly transaction volumes reaching US$1 billion.
It has also started expanding into Asia and Latin America, reporting 30% month-on-month growth.
The acquisition is part of LemFi’s broader strategy to develop into a full-service financial platform tailored to the needs of immigrant communities.
Pillar’s co-founders, Ashutosh Bhatt and Adam Lewis, both formerly of Revolut, will join LemFi as part of the deal.
Pillar’s technology uses both global credit data and non-traditional information to assess a user’s creditworthiness.
The alternative scoring model is designed to help newcomers establish a financial footprint from the outset, improving their ability to access financial products.
Demand for such services is reflected in the early results of LemFi Credit.
Launched in private beta, the service has attracted more than 8,000 users in six weeks, with user numbers increasing by 18% week-on-week.
Customers are currently able to use virtual cards via Apple Pay and Google Pay, with physical Visa cards expected to roll out later in the year once the service becomes publicly available.
“Through LemFi Credit, we already provide our existing customers with the ability to grow their credit right within the LemFi app,”
said LemFi co-founder and CEO Ridwan Olalere.
“With this acquisition, we plan to offer credit cards to customers, starting with the UK and roll out the full suite of LemFi Credit features publicly. Credit forms a critical part of our vision of building a full-stack financial service for immigrants everywhere, and Rian and I are particularly pleased that Adam and Ash have agreed to join us in building it.”
Pillar co-founder Ashutosh Bhatt said,
“Despite earning a good salary at Barclays, I couldn’t access even the everyday products I’d had in India. I couldn’t get an iPhone, let alone a credit card. There have been slight improvements, but we still can’t offer equitable access to bank accounts or credit cards to someone from another country. I’m excited for the impact we will have together with LemFi to increase reach by 10X and build truly global access to credit.”
Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by rawpixel.com via Freepik
