Send money Across borders It should be simple now.
We live in a world where you can order groceries from your couch and open a bank account on your phone. But for millions of people who need to move money across borders, the experience is still stuck in another era. It’s slow, expensive, and full of friction.
That’s what frustration Sebastian Gunningham He entered when he took over as CEO of the company Capably About 75 days ago. His honest assessment of the market? It is an “underserved and overpaid society” where many people pay too much for transfers that are unpredictable in timing and quality.
Gunningham shared this opinion with piments CEO Karen Webster That same evening the first quarter of Remitly was published Profits.
The conversation that followed wasn’t really about the numbers, although it was strong, with sending volume up 37% and active customers reaching 9.6 million. It was about the bigger question. Why does cross-border money movement still seem so broken, and what will it take to fix it?
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Part of the answer lies in how plumbing works. Firstly. International payments typically bounce through layers of correspondent banks, foreign exchange providers, and settlement systems. Each layer adds cost and delay.
“Sending money across the world is no fun,” Gunningham said. “It’s expensive. It’s messy.”
This chaos is exactly what drives you Small businesses He said on the Remitly Network.
Webster noted that what Remitly is building looks less like… Money transfers The service is very similar to the global platform business, especially as it moves into services for freelancers, small businesses and consumers who want to move larger payments across borders to buy property, pay tuition fees and pay bills for themselves or their family members.
Peeling onionsAnd admiring what’s inside
Profits were strong. Revenues were up 25% year over year, and the company was profitable. But Gunningham seemed more interested in talking about what he’s found since taking office.
He used the metaphor of peeling an onion.
“When you join a company, one or two things happen,” he said. “You start peeling the onion.”
Sometimes what you find underneath is a mess. In Remitelli’s case, every layer looked “better than I thought,” he said.
One of the surprises? Nearby markets were already appearing on the platform. People were using Remitly for real estate purchases, savings transfers, and business payrolls. These are use cases that go beyond the typical $250 conversions.
What does Gunningham think these customers actually want? Three things, including “low cost,” “fast money,” and “great service.” Simple enough to say. It is very difficult to deliver consistently across 175 countries.
This formula will sound familiar to anyone who has studied Amazonwhere Gunningham previously helped build its marketplace and platform business. Webster drew a parallel with Amazon’s flywheel situation. The idea that trust and comfort, once established, become self-reinforcing competitive advantages.
Gunningham said he sees the same dynamic happening in cross-border payments. If people are constantly getting cheap, fast, reliable conversions from one platform, they will stop shopping. That’s when the flywheel starts.
At the same time, the customer mix is changing. Remitly transactions were transactions averaging about $250, but Gunningham said transfers of $5,000, $20,000 and even $30,000 were becoming increasingly common. These are linked to savings, investments and property purchases.
Then there is the gig economy. Gunningham described a meeting of workers in Manila who provide virtual assistance, booking services and operational support to companies abroad. They need fast and cheap cross-border payments. They find Remitly.
The small business opportunity can be enormous.
“If you get 1% of the small business market, that’s two or three Remitlys out there,” Gunningham said.
That’s a big claim, but it highlights how much room Gunningham sees outside the company’s traditional consumer base.
Where AI actually helps (and where it doesn’t help yet)
Every payments CEO is talking about it artificial intelligence These days, Gunningham is specific about what makes a difference at Remitly, and where it doesn’t.
“The killer product in AI right now is software manufacturing,” he said.
In plain terms, AI is powering the way Remitly engineers build and ship products. He said the old math of headcount per hour no longer applies, and that fundamentally changes how quickly a company can move.
Consumer-facing AI? This is a different story. Remitly has been tried with ChatGPT Integration and conversational interfaces, but Gunningham said these efforts are still in the early stages.
Stablecoins is another area where Remitly is testing the waters. In lanes where consumers prefer to hold US dollars over local currencies, the company has been experimenting with wallet and payment card products tied to stablecoin balances.
But Gunningham is in no rush.
“There are a lot of gray areas,” he said of stablecoin regulation. “We are moving very cautiously.”
There’s a good reason for that. Countries such as Brazil and India are adopting different approaches, and regulators around the world are still trying to determine their position.
The net effect is a patchwork of rules that makes it difficult to move quickly, even when the underlying technology is ready.
However, the broader opportunity is difficult to ignore. Remitly already supports remittances across more than 175 countries, and its infrastructure increasingly extends to include merchant payments and financial products designed for the people who receive the money, not just those who send it.
Gunningham said he knew competition was coming. Banks, wallets and other fintech companies are all chasing the same market. But he said he doesn’t think the brand will decide who wins.
“If you don’t have low cost, fast money, or great service, you’re not going to win,” he said. It’s back to basics.
He said he sees the long-term conditions lining up in Remitly’s favor, especially as the software-driven infrastructure reduces the cost of reaching underserved markets.
“We have this big core market and these emerging markets that are new to us,” Gunningham told Webster. “Some of the drivers are that we are growing much faster in these new sectors than we expected. I think that bodes well for the future.”
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