Blog 6: Rewire

Easing the financial burden for migrant workers and their families

Company: Rewire operates a digital mobile banking platform designed to facilitate international remittance. The company's platform helps foreign workers and other un-banked users to load money in one country and remit it to selected receiving countries as well as provide financial services such as bill payments, savings, and mortgage loans that are tailored and accessible for migrants, enabling migrant workers to complete cross-border transactions easily. Currently, Rewire serves migrant nationals of China, the Philippines, Thailand, India, Nigeria, and more, most of whom work and reside in countries such as the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Israel.

Location & Year Founded: Tel Aviv, 2015

Co-Founders: Guy Kashtan, CEO (pictured left, interviewed), Saar Yahalom, CTO (middle), and Adi Ben Dayan (VP R&D)

Funds Raised and Investors: $62 million from Jerry Yang through AME Cloud Ventures, Opera Tech Ventures (VC arm of BNP Paribas Group), Glilot Capital Partners, Migdal Insurance, Moneta Venture Capital, OurCrowd, Renegade Partners, Standard Bank, Viola FinTech, et al.

Founder’s Background: As co-founder and CEO of Rewire, Guy is an innovative and socially minded leader with an extensive background in product management, technology, and entrepreneurship. Prior to founding Rewire in 2015, Guy spent more than four years as a software developer and program manager at Microsoft. He graduated in computer science from Reichman University (formerly IDC Herzilya). Guy has previously founded or developed numerous consumer websites in Israel.

1.     Where did the idea for Rewire originate?

The idea for this came from a personal connection of one of the founders with a family caregiver. We identified the very high cost of remittances for migrant workers. Initially we thought of offering a Bitcoin solution, however volatility is too high for migrants, and we decided to forego this aspect, but still decided to launch a digital-friendly solution. We believe in doing both good and making a profit. We aim to serve a population that needs access to more financial services, and we want to educate customers about these services. In terms of being an impact-driven company, we have found that the best and most loyal employees are those who come and stay for mission. This also reflects how we hire, as even though we are an Israeli-based company, 40% of our employees are non-Israeli, including those employed both in Israel as well as in Europe and the Philippines.

2.     How does Rewire’s offering work?

Very simply, when a user comes to our website, they can provide some basic information about themselves, and typically within just a minute, immediately have access to a virtual debit card and a local payment account on which they can load money, receive their salary, make payments, and send remittances.

3.     What differentiates the product?

We differentiate with a suite of financial products that we are building out. This is different from other remittance services, and similarly our remittance offering is not typically offered by traditional banks. We see ourselves as a hybrid between neobank and money transfer provider that focuses on migrant blue collar and service workers. Our goal is to help them save money and access financial services that are otherwise unavailable to them due to their income level or lack of credit.

4.     What are the company’s key accomplishments to date?

We have over 600,000 registered customers, most of whom are in Europe. We serve roughly 100,000 customers quarterly. Rewire processed over $700 million in remittances over the past year as we were able to double in size.

5.     What lies ahead for Rewire in 2022?

We plan to continue growing, doubling on all of our KPIs. Rewire will also grow our reach by expanding to additional product lines, by adding more countries and nationalities, and by growing our strategic partnerships within these markets.

6.     What are the long-term strategic objectives?

Over the long-term, we aim to be the world’s leading provider of services for migrants wherever in the world they may be. Our customers should be able to transact across the globe with the same user experience by removing barriers and costs associated with working across national borders.

Ron’s Take

Migrant workers are sadly among the most overlooked, neglected, and underappreciated members of society. They travel far from home to earn enough money to share with family members back home while providing vital services such as housekeeping, caregiving, construction, agriculture, and many other trades that are not fulfilled by citizens of the more economically advantaged countries in which they reside. They are not jet-setting to live the expat lifestyle in high-rise luxury living. They are making significant personal sacrifices to try to provide for their families. By offering this group lower costs in remitting income to families back home, Rewire is helping to ease their burden. Layering on top of that additional financial services such as banking and insurance, which many are not able to easily attain, the company will continue to bring focus to this critical market. Not only will the users benefit directly, but so will the societies at large by making it more attractive for migrants to make such a difficult decision for their personal and professional lives.