LemFi, the cross-border payments company focused on immigrant communities, has acquired UK investment platform Wealth8, giving it the ability to offer stock market and fund portfolios alongside its existing remittance, savings and credit products. The deal, approved by the Financial Conduct Authority, marks the company’s second acquisition this year and accelerates its ambition to become a full-service financial platform for globally mobile customers.
Wealth8, an FCA-authorised investment firm, allows users to build portfolios with minimum contributions starting at £8, a threshold designed to attract first-time investors who might otherwise be shut out of wealth management. The acquisition means LemFi will be able to integrate low-cost investing into an app that already handles multi-currency accounts, international money transfers and, since an earlier purchase this year, consumer credit.
Founded in 2020 by Ridwan Olalere and Rian Cochran, LemFi originally concentrated on reducing the cost of remittances to emerging markets. It now serves more than 2m customers across Europe, North America and Australia, and at the start of 2025 was processing $1bn in monthly transaction volumes. The company has raised $85m in total funding from investors including Highland Europe, Y Combinator, Left Lane Capital and Endeavor Catalyst.
The Wealth8 transaction follows the acquisition of Pillar, a London-based credit specialist, announced earlier in 2025. That deal brought proprietary credit-scoring technology that draws on both global credit data and non-traditional information to assess borrowers with thin files. A private beta of the resulting LemFi Credit product attracted more than 8,000 users in its first six weeks. Pillar’s co-founders, Ashutosh Bhatt and Adam Lewis, both formerly of Revolut, joined LemFi as part of the arrangement.
By layering investment services on top of payments and credit, the company is betting it can capture more of the financial lives of diaspora communities. Last year it launched an Instant Access Savings product that offered a promotional rate of 5.00 per cent AER, a tool that served both as an acquisition lever and a bridge to longer-term products. The Wealth8 integration is designed to provide a natural next step for those savers.
“We started LemFi by helping people send money because that was the most urgent need,” Olalere said. “But financial progress doesn’t stop at the transfer. This approval allows us to help customers save, access credit and now invest, supporting them as they build long-term financial security wherever they call home.”
The expansion into wealth management targets a well-documented gap. Research from the London School of Economics has shown that some minority communities in the UK hold only 10p to 20p for every £1 of wealth held by other groups. LemFi argues that by eliminating high minimum investments and offering an integrated digital experience, it can draw customers away from cash-heavy savings and into diversified portfolios. The £8 entry point on Wealth8 is part of that pitch.
The UK serves as the regulatory anchor for LemFi’s product strategy. Obtaining FCA clearance for the Wealth8 acquisition signals that the company’s compliance and governance systems meet the standards required for both payments and investment services. It plans to refine its cross-border wealth offering in the UK before rolling it out to other markets in Africa, Asia and North America where it already holds licences.
Industry observers see the bundling of services as a logical competitive move. Customer acquisition costs in remittances can be relatively low because of high transaction frequency, but margins are thin. By graduating users into higher-margin credit and wealth products, LemFi stands to increase revenue per customer and improve retention. Rivals including Revolut and Wise also operate multi-product platforms, but LemFi’s narrow focus on immigrant communities provides differentiation.
Financial terms of the Wealth8 acquisition have not been disclosed. The platform’s team and its FCA permissions will be absorbed into LemFi’s operations. The deal comes amid a wave of consolidation in African fintech, as well-capitalised startups use M&A to obtain regulatory licences and specialised technology rather than building them from scratch.
With two acquisitions completed, LemFi now spans payments, credit and investments — three pillars of a “super-app” strategy tailored to the financial needs of migrants. The company says it expects a full public rollout of credit products later this year, with investment services to follow once the Wealth8 integration is complete.