Remitly co-founder Matt Oppenheimer is stepping down as CEO after almost 15 years rising the Seattle-based digital remittance firm right into a worthwhile, publicly traded fintech big valued at almost $3 billion.
Veteran tech and finance government Sebastian Gunningham will exchange Oppenheimer, efficient Feb. 19. Oppenheimer will turn out to be chairman as the corporate leans into what it calls its subsequent chapter.
“This transition isn’t about stepping again. It’s about stepping up into the function that finest serves Remitly’s long-term success,” Oppenheimer wrote in an e-mail to workers. He harassed that the management change “didn’t occur in a single day,” as he approached the corporate’s board “some time again” to debate long-term succession planning.
Gunningham beforehand led Amazon’s market and funds companies, working straight for Jeff Bezos, and was a member of Amazon’s government “S-team.” He additionally did a quick stint as co-CEO at WeWork and extra not too long ago helped lead a digital transformation push at Spanish banking big Santander. “I’ve lengthy admired Remitly’s mission and the actual distinction it makes in individuals’s lives,” Gunningham mentioned in an announcement.
Remitly inventory was up greater than 10% in after-hours buying and selling Wednesday.
The CEO change marks the top of an period for Oppenheimer and Remitly, which additionally on Wednesday reported double-digit will increase in clients and transaction quantity within the fourth quarter, together with adjusted EBITDA of $88.6 million, almost doubling from the prior 12 months. Ship quantity on the platform rose 35% to $20.8 billion.
Remitly’s cell expertise lets individuals ship and obtain cash throughout borders, together with immigrants within the U.S. and U.Ok. who help households again dwelling in nations such because the Philippines, India, El Salvador, and others. The service eliminates lots of the types, codes, and brokers sometimes related to worldwide cash transfers.
The Remitly story started greater than a decade in the past after Oppenheimer had simply returned from Kenya, the place he was working for Barclays and realized how laborious it was for households to ship and obtain cash abroad.
He teamed up with co-founders Josh Hug and Shivaas Gulati, taking Remitly from a tiny upstart that graduated from Techstars Seattle in 2011 into a worldwide remittance participant that battled incumbents resembling Western Union and MoneyGram. Remitly raised round $400 million from personal buyers and went public in 2021 at a valuation of almost $7 billion.
Remitly now has greater than 9.3 million quarterly energetic customers — up 19% year-over-year — and employs 3,200 individuals throughout the globe. It reported $442.2 million in This autumn income, up 26% year-over-year.
The corporate has been laying out a brand new evolution that retains remittances on the core however provides merchandise like a small‑enterprise funds service, a membership providing with multi‑forex wallets and debit playing cards, the flexibility to entry a line of credit score, and new instruments for stablecoin-based balances.
Latest earnings language notes that Remitly is evolving past a remittance firm right into a diversified, cross-border monetary providers supplier, serving each customers and companies throughout a rising set of use instances.
In his memo to employees, Oppenheimer highlighted Gunningham’s private story — “Argentine by start, Scottish by heritage, and American by journey” — noting that he brings a worldwide perspective that aligns with the corporate’s buyer base. “He is aware of what it feels prefer to navigate a worldwide monetary providers system.,” Oppenheimer wrote. “He understands that we aren’t simply transferring cash; we’re transferring hope.”
Oppenheimer, who received Ernst & Younger’s Pacific Northwest Entrepreneur of the 12 months award in 2016, informed workers he’ll stay Remitly’s largest particular person shareholder “with no plans to promote” and can keep “deeply engaged as chairman, not as an operator of the enterprise the place I’ll defer to Sebastian.” He mentioned he intends to spend extra time on cross-industry initiatives the place Remitly’s scale and expertise can tackle systemic points; make investments extra vitality in exterior relationships and extra board roles; and be extra current together with his household whereas pursuing private targets resembling coaching for a Half Ironman in July.
“This transition isn’t a conclusion. It’s a renewal. It’s a deeper dedication to the imaginative and prescient we’ve got held from the start,” he wrote. “I’m grateful. I’m humbled. And I’m excited for the intense future forward.”
