Empowering Remote Workers

Grey Finance Facilitates Global Salary Management.

About the founders 👤

Grey was established in July 2020 by Idorenyin Obong and Femi Aghedo with the purpose of providing a convenient instant exchange service for Nigerians. The primary goal of Grey is to assist individuals in exchanging foreign currencies held in their domiciliary accounts for the local currency, the naira.

Discovering a golden opportunity 💡

“We identified a gap in the market for foreign bank accounts for Africans. We observed that many Africans needed help to receive payments from foreign employers because of the limitations of traditional banks. We believed we could positively impact by offering a platform allowing Africans to access foreign bank accounts quickly and effortlessly.” States Femi Aghedo.

Welcome to Grey Finance 🏪

Grey provides USD, EUR, GBP accounts for remote workers in developing countries starting from Africa. For the first time, western companies feel comfortable recruiting skilled workers from anywhere and Grey is making it easy for these workers to receive their salary, save in foreign currency, convert to local currency and spend.

How profitable is Grey 💵 ?

Grey makes money just like any other financial institution. With deposit fees, bank transfer fees: fees for receiving or depositing funds via foreign transfers into your virtual account depend on the currency and payment scheme employed. For instance, ACH transfers incur a 1% charge for receiving payments, while SWIFT/WIRE transfers carry a 1% + $50 fee. EUR and GBP virtual accounts also entail a 1% fee for receiving payments.

Card Fees: Deposit charges vary based on the type of card used. International cards (foreign cards and domiciliary account cards) attract a 3.8% fee of the transaction volume, while local cards (e.g., Naira - NGN cards) have a 1.4% charge (capped at NGN 2000).

Swap Fee: This fee represents the interest charged or received for maintaining a trading position and amounts to 1% (capped at N3,000) of the currency being converted.

Capped Fee: Refers to the maximum amount charged per transaction, ensuring that the fee does not exceed the specified capped amount.

Withdrawal Fee: This fee applies to sending payments and varies for different currencies. Below is a list of withdrawal fees for various currencies.

What is the growth potential of this business 🌎?

Grey has been growing fast, after receiving backing from Y Combinator, the Nigerian fintech company Grey has expanded its operations into East Africa, beginning with Kenya. CEO Idorenyin Obong revealed that Grey's expansion into Kenya was facilitated by strategic partnerships with two prominent companies in the region. One of the partnerships was established with Cellulant, a leading payments provider, while the other was formed with Moringa, an innovative edtech startup. These partnerships have played a vital role in Grey's entry into the East African market and signal its commitment to growth and collaboration in the region.

Where are they in the funding process💱?

Grey has raised $2.5M in venture money so far. They are backed by Y Combinator, True capital Management, and Soma Capital with angel investors Alan Rutledge, Samvit Ramadurgam, and Karthik Ramakrishnan all joining the seed round. Grey was included in YC Winter batch 2022 so the investor attention shouldn’t be stopping anytime soon.

🐦 @Greyfinance