The archive · Money & Fintech · Product decision · 2022–2025
Raenest's Africa pay-in bet: Geegpay pivot, $1B processed, $11M QED Series A
Lagos fintech Raenest pivoted from employer-of-record to multi-currency accounts for Africa: 700,000+ users, $1B+ processed, $11M QED-led Series A.
Raenest
What the business is
Raenest (branded Geegpay for consumers) gives African freelancers and businesses multi-currency virtual accounts, USD/GBP/EUR wallets, debit cards and payment rails so they can receive pay from Upwork, Fiverr, Gusto and international clients.
Starting capital：$700,000 pre-seed and $2.6M seed, then an $11M Series A led by QED Investors (announced Feb 2025) with Norrsken22, Ventures Platform, P1 Ventures and Seedstars — $14.3M total per TechCrunch.
How it started
Victor Alade, a former software engineer at Jumia and Andela, founded Raenest in Lagos in 2022 with co-founders Sodruldeen Mustapha and Richard Oyome, drawing on their work at African fintechs like LemFi and FairMoney. The original idea was an Employer of Record helping foreign companies pay African employees in compliance with local norms.
What happened
A few months in, the founders realized the problem was not companies sending payments but individuals receiving them — a five-day delay mattered little in the US but a lot in Nigeria or Kenya, before currency conversion added another hurdle. Geegpay took off with freelancers, and business sign-ups rose when US fintech Mercury began restricting accounts from parts of Africa and Deel moved into the EOR space. In March 2024 Raenest added Raenest for Business for international remittance. By February 2025 it claimed $1B+ processed (up 160% in two years), 700,000+ individual users and 300+ business clients, and said it was profitable.
How it ended up
Still scaling: the Series A funds deeper Nigerian operations and planned licenses in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and the US, with Geegpay and Raenest for Business unified under the Raenest brand; no exit.
Background
Raenest was founded in Lagos in 2022 by Victor Alade with Sodruldeen Mustapha and Richard Oyome, initially as an Employer of Record that helped foreign companies pay African employees in compliance with local norms. Within months the founders saw their real market was on the other side of the payment: freelancers and remote workers across Africa who could not open accounts that accepted US dollars.
The pivot produced Geegpay, which gives individuals virtual USD, GBP and EUR accounts, multi-currency wallets and physical or virtual debit cards, so workers paid through Upwork, Fiverr or Gusto can receive and convert money instead of waiting on slow, costly rails. Business demand followed — African companies also needed foreign accounts — and Raenest added Raenest for Business in March 2024, a move that accelerated when US fintech Mercury restricted accounts from parts of Africa.
By the February 2025 Series A, TechCrunch reported $1B+ processed since 2022 (up 160% over two years), more than 700,000 individual users and 300+ business clients including Moniepoint and Helium Health, with the company saying it was profitable. The $11M round, led by QED Investors with Norrsken22, Ventures Platform, P1 Ventures and Seedstars, brought total funding to $14.3M.
The company plans to deepen its Nigerian base and secure licenses in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and the US, folding Geegpay and Raenest for Business into a single Raenest brand. Its bet is that serving both individuals and businesses — unlike rivals focused on one — lets it own Africa's cross-border receiving layer.
What has to be true
- The founders tested the EOR thesis first and pivoted within months to the bigger pain: African workers who could not open USD-denominated receiving accounts.
- Geegpay wedged into a visible segment — freelancers paid by Upwork, Fiverr and Gusto — before expanding to business banking, riding the Mercury restriction wave.
- Scale numbers backed the bet: $1B+ processed, 700,000+ users and 300+ businesses within roughly three years, at claimed profitability.
- QED's Africa portfolio (Moniepoint, Remedial Health) gave the Series A credibility and a distribution thesis beyond the raise itself.
- The lesson generalizes: remittance and currency pain in Africa is a receiving problem, so whoever owns the receiving account owns the relationship.
What can be applied
Pivot to the actual bottleneck, not the plausible market: an EOR helped companies pay, but Raenest's growth came from giving individuals and businesses the receiving accounts banks would not.
Aftermath
As of the 2025-02-11 Series A announcement, Raenest operates in Nigeria under a money transfer license with banking partners in the US and UK, and claims profitability. Its stated next steps are deepening Nigeria, securing licenses in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and the US, and unifying Geegpay and Raenest for Business under the Raenest brand while hiring for expansion. No later exit, shutdown or reversal was reported in the sources verified for this entry.
Sources
- QED leads $11M investment in Nigerian fintech Raenest
- Nigerian fintech startup Raenest raises $11m Series A to expand reach
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe what you are building, and see who is betting on the same thing.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card