Careem acquires money transfer technology platform Denarii

Careem has announced the acquisition of the assets of Denarii, a Dubai-based money transfer platform. The platform integrates fintechs and financial institutions with remittance aggregators, banks, exchanges and wallets globally. Some key members of the Denarii team will also be joining Careem.

Founded in 2019 by Jon Santillan and Walfrido Perez, Denarii’s money transfer technology uses a single API call to facilitate quick and affordable international money transfer.

Denarii also helps businesses build secure profit centres by automating accounts payable and B2B payments.

Careem Pay will use Denarii’s money transfer technology to connect customers and captains with remittance services provided by licenced providers. Careem Pay offers a digital wallet that stores real money for customers in the UAE as well as a peer-to-peer (P2P) transfer product that enables customers to send, request and receive money using just a phone number, personal QR code, or personal payment link. Seamless access to international remittance services will round out Careem Pay’s payments offering for customers and Captains to address their everyday financial needs.

Mudassir Sheikha, CEO and co-founder of Careem, commented: “We’re thrilled to acquire the assets of Denarii, a startup that is transforming the way people move money across the world. Denarii’s innovative API will accelerate our journey to offering simple and affordable international remittance services, adding to the wide variety of services already available through Careem Pay.”

Santillan added: “Careem’s large network of customers, captains and merchants, and decade of payments processing experience, will enable us to increase the impact of the money transfer technology we built through Denarii. Careem has done more than any startup in the region to simplify and improve lives and we’re excited to join the team to increase economic freedom for millions of people.”

Meanwhile, the GCC is home to some of the largest remittance corridors in the world. Remittances to the developing countries of the Middle East and North Africa region grew by 7.6 per cent in 2021 to $61bn while remittances to South Asia grew 6.9 per cent to $157bn in the same year. Digital financial services have an enormous total addressable market – valued at $2.8tn across payments, lending, GCC remittances, and financial services products including insurance.