Seva Money Raises $5M Seed Led by Blockwall and Revent for Remittances

Seva Money, a London-based fintech building products for the people who receive cross-border remittances, has raised a $5 million seed round co-led by Blockwall and Revent, the company announced on Nov. 9. Seva Money did not disclose a valuation.

Pre-seed backers Seedcamp, Stride and Ada Ventures returned for the round. Angel investors include Onfido founder Husayn Kassai, NALA founder Benjamin Fernandes and Michael Kent, founder of Azimo and Tandem Bank, according to the company and Tech Funding News. The amount of the earlier pre-seed round was not disclosed.

A Wallet and Card for the Receiving End

Most remittance infrastructure focuses on the sender and the movement of funds, the company says. Seva Money sells to money transfer operators (MTOs) instead, giving them a white-labelled wallet and card for recipients that works on their existing transfer flows, according to Tech Funding News. The platform runs on both fiat and stablecoin rails and bundles embedded savings, healthcare and other services, so a sender in the UK can, for example, top up a card held by a parent in India.

Health perks listed on the company site include up to 60 free at-home specialist consultations a year and discounts of up to 20% on medicines through partners Tata 1mg and PharmEasy, Tech Funding News reported.

Founder Built It Inside the Industry

Founder and CEO Ritu Soni previously held senior product roles at WorldRemit, Paysafe, Skrill and Lebara Money and is a London Business School graduate. Stride partner Gabbi Cahane said in the release that Soni has spent two decades working in the sector. Soni framed the thesis plainly: "But the real opportunity is what happens after the money arrives."

Markets, Traction and Use of Funds

Seva Money is live on the receive side in India and Mexico and plans to add the Philippines, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Ghana within 12 months. The company says its product can lift MTO retention by 29%, though it did not publish user counts, revenue or a methodology for that figure. The new capital will go toward product development, MTO partnerships and building a presence in key receiving markets.

Revent founding partner Dr. Lauren Lentz said, "Seva Money uniquely addresses the challenge of those moving the money by focusing on the ones benefiting from it." Blockwall partner Damien Roch pointed to stablecoin technology now going live inside the infrastructure of larger remittance players.

Why It Matters

Stride's Cahane described the state of competition among transfer providers bluntly in the release: "This is a race to the bottom." Seva Money is betting that the recipient relationship, not the transaction, is where MTOs can recover margin, and it is selling that relationship back to them as a white-label product rather than competing with them directly.

The investor mix reflects that bet. A co-lead that calls itself a long-standing investor in the stablecoin ecosystem, alongside angel backing from the founders of Azimo and NALA, gives the company ties to both the stablecoin buildout and the transfer business it is selling into.

The open question is evidence. The 29% retention figure is company-supplied, and the expansion into five more markets in a year will test whether health and financial perks travel across very different regulatory and healthcare systems.

Source

Seva Money — Seva Money Raises $5m Seed Round to Turn Remittances into Ongoing Financial Relationships