Pillar, a London-based fintech founded to give immigrants moving to a new country access to credit, has been acquired by international payments firm LemFi.
LemFi, which provides multi-currency accounts to send and receive money internationally, said the acquisition was to accelerate its goal of empowering immigrant communities with accessible financial services.
Founded 2021, Pillar raised £13m less than a year after its launch, receiving investments from Global Founders Capital and Backed VC.
“Despite earning a good salary at Barclays, I could not access even the everyday products I’d had in India. I couldn’t get an iPhone, let alone a credit card,” said Pillar co-founder Ashutosh Bhatt.
“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.”
Bhatt founded the company alongside the firm’s chief technology officer Adam Lewis.
The acquisition will support LemFi’s integration of credit services into its core product.
“Through LemFi Credit, we already provide our existing customers with the ability to grow their credit right within the LemFi app.
“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,” said LemFi co-founder and chief executive Ridwan Olalere.
“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. ”
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