Zepz Equity (IFC-50171)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Oct 31, 2024
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
WorldRemit Group Limited
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Equity
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 20.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 267.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Mar 14, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Oct 3, 2024

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the proposed investment is an equity investment of US$20 million to WorldRemit Group Limited (Zepz or the “Company”) as part of its US$267 million Series X equity round. The Company provides digital cross-border consumer remittances via two brands: Sendwave and WorldRemit. IFC’s proposed equity investment will finance the Company’s permanent working capital and to further its foothold in emerging markets.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

This is a Category B project according to IFC’s Policy on Environmental and Social Sustainability. Based on information reviewed by IFC, the proposed project is expected to have limited adverse environmental and social (E&S) impacts that are few, site specific, largely reversible and readily addressed through existing mitigation measures and good international industry practices (GIIP). Key Environmental and Social (E&S) risks and impacts are expected to include the company systems for E&S management of its operations in compliance with legal requirements as well as IFC PSs and implementation of HR policies in line with IFC PS2 and legal requirements.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

The total Series X round (in which IFC is participating) is US$267 million. The round is being led by Accel with participation from TCV, and Leapfrog.

IFC’s proposed investment is a US$20 million equity investment.

Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

WorldRemit Group Limited (Zepz) was founded in 2010 and provides digital cross-border consumer remittances via two brands: Sendwave and WorldRemit. Zepz serves over 9+ million users through its current presence in over 4,600 corridors with over 40 send countries and over 90 receive countries.

Management team. The Company has a leadership team with deep expertise in scaling financial and technology organizations. The CEO, Mark Lenhard, was previously the COO of Bill.com.

Shareholders: the Company’s majority investors are institutional investors with over 50% shareholding including Accel (an American venture capital firm), Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) (an American venture capital firm), and Leapfrog (a South African-Australian private equity firm – an IFC Investee).         

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - WorldRemit Group Limited Client -

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

WorldRemit Group Limited
Mark Lenhard (cc. Investor Relations Team)
Group Chief Executive Officer
-
investorrelations@zepz.io
51 Eastcheap, London, EC3M 1DT
https://www.zepzpay.com/

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org

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How it works