Press release

Remitly Awarded as Technology Pioneer by World Economic Forum

0
Sponsored by Businesswire

Remitly, the global online remittance service, was selected among hundreds of candidates as one of the World Economic Forum’s “Technology Pioneers”. Remitly, which was founded in 2011, has grown its reliable and easy to use mobile money transfer service to more than 40 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America, offering more than 600 send-to-receive corridor combinations.

The World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers are early to growth-stage companies from around the world that are involved in the design, development and deployment of new technologies and innovations, and are poised to have a significant impact on business and society.

This year’s Tech Pioneers are emerging innovators from a diverse set of industries. These firms are shaping the future by advancing technologies such as AI, IoT, robotics, blockchain, biotechnology and many more. The focus areas of this year’s Tech Pioneers include: agtech, smart cities, cleantech, supply chain, manufacturing, cybersecurity, autonomous vehicles and drones. The diversity of these companies extends to their leadership as well, as 25% of 2019 Tech Pioneers are female led. The firms also come from many different regions beyond the United States and Silicon Valley. In fact, this year’s class of 56 firms represent every continent except Antarctica. The full list of technology pioneers can be found here.

Following its selection as Technology Pioneer, Remitly CEO and Co-founder Matt Oppenheimer will be participating in the World Economic Forum Annual Technology Pioneers Workshop. The meeting will be held in New York, USA, Oct. 17-18. Many Pioneers will also attend the Annual Meeting in Davos, in January 2020, and continue to contribute to Forum initiatives over the next two years.

“We’re excited to welcome Remitly to this year’s innovative class of technology pioneers,” says Fulvia Montresor, Head of Technology Pioneers at the World Economic Forum. “Remitly and its fellow pioneers are leaders in using novel technologies to transform their industries. We see great potential for these next generation companies to shape solutions to global challenges and improve society for years to come.”

“It’s an honor to be recognized as a pioneer by the World Economic Forum,” said Matt. “I founded this company out of a conviction that the $600 billion remittance industry was fundamentally broken – inefficient, confusing, and expensive. Our success is a testament to how technology can dramatically transform a legacy service that fails to meet the needs of its customers. We are passionate about helping immigrants around the world, and we are excited to continue pioneering innovative solutions that meet their financial needs.”

The Technology Pioneers were selected by a selection committee of more than 59 academics, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and corporate executives. The committee based its decisions on criteria including innovation, potential impact and leadership. Past recipients include Airbnb, Google, Kickstarter, Mozilla, Palantir Technologies, Spotify, TransferWise, Twitter and Wikimedia.

All info on this year’s Technology Pioneers can be found here: http://wef.ch/techpioneers19

More information on past winners can be found here.

About Remitly: Remitly is an independent digital remittance company that transfers over $6 billion in annualized volume through its proprietary global money transfer network across Africa, Asia, Central Europe, and South America. Its reliable and easy-to-use mobile app makes the process of sending money faster, easier, more transparent and less costly by eliminating the forms, codes, agents, extra time and fees typical of the traditional, century-old money transfer process. Remitly is backed by industry-leading investors, Naspers’ PayU, Silicon Valley Bank, Stripes Group, Threshold Ventures (formerly DFJ Venture), DN Capital, QED Investors, Trilogy Equity Partners, Bezos Expeditions, Founders’ Co-Op, and TomorrowVentures. The company is headquartered in Seattle, with additional offices in London, the Philippines, and Nicaragua. For more information, visit Remitly.com.

About World Economic Forum: The World Economic Forum, committed to improving the state of the world, is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. (www.weforum.org).