“Can a zero-fee remittance app become the full financial operating system for cross-border diaspora communities — combining wallets, stablecoin spending, credit, and remittances in one mobile product?”
Founded in 2014 as a lean mobile-first remittance startup focused on Africa, Sendwave differentiated on zero-fee transfers and direct mobile-money-wallet delivery. After its $500M acquisition by WorldRemit (now Zepz) in 2021, it was positioned as the low-cost, mobile-native brand within the Zepz group. From 2023 onward, Sendwave began evolving from a pure remittance pipe into a broader financial super-app for cross-border communities — launching a US banking product (Sendwave Pay), then a digital-dollar wallet, stablecoin-linked Visa cards, and (through the Pomelo acquisition) credit and card products targeting immigrant and diaspora segments.
Sendwave discloses Piermont Bank as its banking provider, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Sendwave does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Piermont Bank.
Sendwave processes payments through Stripe.
Sendwave's cards are issued through Visa (network) and Bridge (stablecoin-linked card infrastructure).
Sendwave's crypto products run on Bridge.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 6 layers in Sendwave's stack: Payments / PSP (Stripe); Banking / BaaS (Piermont Bank); Card issuing (Visa (network) and Bridge (stablecoin-linked card infrastructure)); Lending (Credit cards (via Pomelo acquisition) and Credit-building tools (via Pomelo acquisition)); Sponsor bank (Piermont Bank); Crypto (Bridge).
Sendwave was founded by Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk and is founded in 2014, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts (Delaware-incorporated), United States.
Sendwave has raised ~$500M acquisition price (WorldRemit/Zepz, 2021); prior Sendwave funding undisclosed in total (latest round: Acquired by WorldRemit Group (Zepz) for ~$500M in cash and stock, February 2021).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Sendwave and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.