Startups trying to raise venture capital dollars have faced a pretty chilly market lately, but a Seattle-based company called Remitly has just announced it pulled in its biggest round of funding ever.
Remitly is a company that allows people to send remittances to relatives or friends overseas using a smartphone app. The company strives to be cheaper and more user-friendly than traditional money-transfer companies such as Western Union.
Remitly just raised almost $39 million led by a New York-based investment firm called Stripes Group.
The company's chief executive, Matt Oppenheimer, said fundraising has gotten harder for companies that haven’t fully worked out their business model. But he said it wasn't tough for his company.
"For companies like us that do have a roadmap of how do we build a big, independent, profitable business, those are the companies that will succeed in any fundraising environment," he said.
Other investors that contributed this time around include Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who was an early backer of Remitly and Vulcan Capital.
Oppenheimer wouldn’t disclose what the total valuation of his company is right now. Remitly has about 70 employees in Seattle and about 30 more in the Philippines.
