Elevate, a London and Dubai-based fintech company, has successfully raised $5 million in financing to expand its services into South Asia.
This recent funding brings their total equity and debt raised to $10 million, with prominent investors such as Y Combinator, Goodwater, Global Founders Capital, and VSQ backing the venture. Since its launch earlier this year, Elevate has garnered over 150,000 users, including more than 50,000 freelancers and remote workers from Pakistan.
The fintech’s rapid growth in Pakistan highlights the substantial demand for its services among local freelancers. Elevate aims to register over 500,000 Pakistani freelancers and remote workers, empowering them to increase their business share in the United States and other developed markets.
Elevate offers a streamlined process for receiving USD payments, supporting free and fast deposits from US and international employers and platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, PayPal, Deel, and Toptal. The service includes a virtual debit card for online spending and market-leading FX rates for sending money home.
Customer funds deposited into Elevate accounts are held by Bangor Savings Bank, a 172-year-old institution based in Maine, United States. Bangor Savings Bank, an FDIC-member, acts as the deposit-taking institution and card issuer. This means that deposits are FDIC-insured up to $250,000, making Elevate the only service that allows people in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Philippines to open an FDIC-insured U.S. bank account.
Khalid Keenan, CEO of Elevate, highlighted the importance of freelancing and remote work as a key source of foreign income for emerging markets. “Platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and Deel have empowered talent from countries like Pakistan to compete on a global scale and earn in USD,” he said.
Keenan also criticized existing platforms like Payoneer for their high fees, stating, “Our mission at Elevate is for freelancers and remote workers to quickly and easily get paid at minimal cost so they keep as much of their hard-earned earnings as possible.”
Elevate’s expansion into South Asia promises to revolutionize how freelancers and remote workers in emerging markets receive and manage their earnings, providing them with more efficient and cost-effective solutions.
