Payday, a Pan-African Fintech startup, unveiled Cherry Finance, a new remittance product that would make it easy and safe for African immigrants in North America (the US and Canada) to send money home.
With a flat fee of $2 for each transaction or transfer, Cherry Finance reportedly boasts one of the lowest cost-per-transfer rates in the industry.
Favour Ori, the person behind Cherry, stated in a statement, “We’re seeking the vast market share that is still available. We’ve done this with Payday before, and we’re doing it again.
Speaking on the need for providing an affordable and secured remittance platform, the company citing the World Bank said that Sub-Saharan Africa received over $49 billion in personal remittances in 2021, used for the purchase of daily necessities.
For its pilot phase, Cherry said it will roll out in the US starting this month and users will be able to send to Nigeria, and soon Ghana, Kenya, and the rest of Africa.
Ori added that Cherry customers will have access to several payment methods including Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, and Stablecoins.
Payday noted that it is partnering with Africa’s highest-valued start-up, Flutterwave, which already supports cross-border transfers to 34 of the continent’s 54 countries.
The partnership will help Cherry comply with local regulations in its countries of operation.
Meanwhile, Payday disclosed that it issues USD, GBP, and EUR bank accounts with a Virtual Mastercard (for spending globally and has s secured $2.2M (pre-seed) from global investors like Techstars, Ethos VC, Loftyinc Capital, Ingressive Capital, Magic fund, Gbenga Agboola (CEO of Flutterwave), among others.
Payday said it currently has over 100,000 users) and processes millions of dollars every month.