# WorldRemit and Zepz: the money app founded by Ismail Ahmed

> WorldRemit in facts: its Somali founder Ismail Ahmed, founding in 2010, the link to ZAAD, funding rounds, Sendwave and Zepz, and regulators' findings.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/businesses/worldremit/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## The founder

**Ismail Ahmed** was born and raised in **Hargeisa** ([Financial Times, Start-up stories: WorldRemit breaks down borders](https://www.ft.com/content/6907e478-ba13-11e5-b151-8e15c9a029fb)). Before the civil war he won a World Bank scholarship to study economics in the UK; after war broke out he left [Somaliland](/en/states/somaliland-1991-to-2026/) and reached the UK as a refugee ([London Business School, Changemakers: Ismail Ahmed](https://www.london.edu/think/changemakers-ismail-ahmed); [Wired UK](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/worldremit-ismail-ahmed-profile)). He holds a PhD in economics from the University of [London](/en/diaspora/london/) and an MBA from London Business School ([Inclusive Boards, archived 2022](https://web.archive.org/web/20220525163949/https://www.inclusiveboards.co.uk/ib100/ismail-ahmed)).

As a student he sent money home to his family and found it slow and costly ([CNN Money, 15 August 2018](https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/15/technology/worldremit-refugee-ceo-ismail-ahmed/index.html)). He later worked on a World Bank project in Hargeisa and then for the UN Development Programme on a money transfer project. He reported fraud in its Somalia programme, lost his job, and was later found to have been unfairly treated and awarded compensation ([The Guardian, 20 January 2017](https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2017/jan/20/worldremit-founder-lost-job-fraud-money-transfers)).

## The company

Ahmed founded **WorldRemit in 2010** with **Catherine Wines** and **Richard Igoe** ([BBC, The man changing the world of remittances](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30192220)). The service moved money transfers onto phones, paying out to bank accounts, mobile wallets, airtime and cash pick-up ([WorldRemit, About us](https://www.worldremit.com/en/about-us)). Somaliland was its first market, and it connects to Telesom's ZAAD wallet as well as M-Pesa in Kenya and bKash in Bangladesh ([Africanews, 15 April 2021](https://www.africanews.com/2021/04/15/somaliland-s-worldremit-tycoon-gives-back-business-africa); [Wikipedia, WorldRemit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WorldRemit)).

## Funding and growth

- **2014:** first outside investment, $40 million from Accel ([TechCrunch, 11 March 2014](https://techcrunch.com/2014/03/11/money-transfer-startup-worldremit-collects-its-first-investment-40m-from-accel/)).
- **February 2015:** $100 million round led by TCV ([Forbes, 19 February 2015](https://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2015/02/19/somali-entrepreneur-raises-100-million-for-money-transfer-startup-worldremit/)).
- **December 2017:** $40 million led by LeapFrog Investments, at a $670 million valuation ([TechCrunch, 6 December 2017](https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/06/worldremit-nabs-40m-at-a-670m-valuation-to-boost-its-money-transfer-business/)).
- **2019:** $175 million round ([WorldRemit, Series D](https://www.worldremit.com/en/news/worldremit-raises-175m-in-series-d-funding)).
- **2020 to 2021:** agreed to buy the US app Sendwave for about $500 million ([Bloomberg, 25 August 2020, archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20251007190348/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-25/worldremit-agrees-to-buy-sendwave-in-500-million-payments-deal)); the group renamed itself **Zepz** and raised $292 million ([FinTech Futures](https://www.fintechfutures.com/venture-capital-funding/worldremit-group-rebrands-as-zepz-raises-292m-series-e-funding)).

## Regulators' findings

- In **October 2023** the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered the operator of Sendwave to pay $1.5 million in refunds and a $1.5 million penalty over misleading claims about transfer speed and cost ([CFPB, 17 October 2023](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-takes-action-against-operator-of-sendwave-app-for-illegally-cheating-people-on-international-money-transfers/)).
- In **November 2025** Australia's financial intelligence agency, AUSTRAC, found WorldRemit's monitoring of suspicious payments the weakest of 15 platforms checked and ordered an external audit ([ABC News, 19 November 2025](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-19/child-sexual-exploitation-crackdown-online-payments-austrac/106018652)).

See also [How to send money to Somalia](/en/economy/how-to-send-money-to-somalia/) and [Somali business pioneers](/en/economy/somali-business-pioneers/).

---
I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.