Remitly has raised $85m in a funding round to accelerate its growth amid the growing demand for digital money transfers following Covid-19 pandemic.

The round was led by its existing investor Prosus’s PayU. Generation Investment Management, Owl Rock Capital, Stripes, DN Capital, Top Tier, Princeville Global and Threshold Ventures also participated in the funding round.

With this new fundraising, Remitly’s valuation stands at $1.5bn.

Remitly co-founder and CEO Matt Oppenheimer said: “As the current health crisis continues to devastate the global economy and disproportionately impact developing countries, immigrants are increasingly turning to digital solutions to address their financial needs and ensure they are still able to send critical funds home to their loved ones.

“Remitly was born out of this necessity – to provide the underserved, underbanked and overlooked access to financial services anytime, anywhere. And our digital solutions have never been needed more than they are today.

“This latest round of funding will allow us to continue meeting our customers’ broad set of financial needs, and providing affordable, convenient and secure solutions as we navigate this uncertain time and beyond.”

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Primarily, the company will use the new proceeds to expand its financial services portfolio.

Established in 2011, Remitly operates as an online money transfer service. The company said that it has registered 200% new customer growth year-over-year despite World Bank’s prediction that global remittances will decline by 20% in 2020.

Earlier this year, Remitly teamed up with Alipay to enable international remittances for its customers.