Ripple partner and startup raises a whopping $1.7 million in funding to improve cross-border payments

SendFriend, a partner of Ripple and a startup that focuses on improving cross-border payments has received a whopping $1.7 million in funding during its first round of investment.

The next-generation remittance company focuses on the smartest way to send money to the Philippines which will help overseas Filipino workers to securely transfer USD to PHP at the lowest rate available via SendFriend. The news of the investment was published on MarketWatch and informed that the capital raised was led by companies like 8 Decimal Capital, Techstars, 2020 Ventures, Barclays, MIT Media Lab etc.

Migrants in the U.S. who send home money via traditional methods usually face problems like delayed payments, high fees and sometimes, the payment doesn’t go through. Moreover, out of $650 billion in remittance transaction occurring in the U.S., $45 billion is lost in fees.

Furthermore, MarketWatch stated:

“SendFriend will launch as the only option for OFWs to securely and reliably send money internationally with fees that are 65% lower than the industry average as it replaces the frictions and fees of the banking system with one seamless, ultra low cost experience to send money globally.”

SendFriend uses Ripple’s xRapid payment solution to facilitate cross-border payments. XRP provides the liquidity needed to make the transaction happen. xRapid transactions occur as a result of converting USD to XRP, which is then sent via exchanges, thus circumventing banks and FIs and the XRP is then converted back to PHP via the exchange in Philippines.

Earlier this year,  CEO David Lighton had said,

“We leveraged the blockchain to create an instant digital money transfer service, a full 65% cheaper than the industry’s average. SendFriend is the US’ first fully compliant international consumer payment solution built on the blockchain and we are going live in Q1.”

SendFriend was founded by people at MIT and was also accepted into Barclays Accelerator Program, powered by Techstars. Moreover, SendFriend plans to launch in New Jersey but, will soon be available to OFWs in other states via desktop and mobile as well. In addition, users can also request to get an early access version of the same.