LemFi Bolsters Immigrant Finance With Pillar Buy

LemFi, the London-based remittances startup founded by Ridwan Olalere and Rian Cochran, has taken a major step forward in serving immigrant communities. The platform has acquired UK fintech Pillar, a specialist in alternative credit scoring for newcomers. Crucially, the acquisition has received approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), marking a strategic leap toward releasing LemFi Credit Cards for immigrants in the UK.

Pillar, co-founded by Revolut alumni Ashutosh Bhatt and Adam Lewis, raised £13 million ($16.9 million) in pre‑seed funding in 2022 to tackle credit access issues for migrants . Their proprietary credit assessment system uses open banking data and non‑traditional signals to gauge financial trustworthiness—allowing immigrants with limited UK history to access loans and cards.

Tackling the Credit Invisibility Crisis

Millions of migrants in the UK are deemed “credit invisible”, lacking UK-based credit history and therefore excluded from standard financial services. Research shows around five million individuals face this issue, with immigrants four times more likely to be denied access to basic credit products.

Bhatt explained the human impact: “Despite earning a good salary at Barclays, I couldn’t access everyday products I had in India. I couldn’t even get an iPhone!”. He added that the acquisition will allow LemFi to magnify its reach tenfold and deliver truly global credit access.

Building a Full‑Stack Financial Platform

For LemFi, remittances were only the beginning. The company already supports a multi-currency wallet and virtual credit lines via LemFi Credit, which saw over 8,000 private beta users in just six weeks—growing at an average of 18% week-on-week.

Co‑founder Ridwan Olalere said the Pillar buy aligns with LemFi’s mission: “Credit marks the next frontier for us… With this acquisition, we plan to offer Credit Cards to customers, starting with the United Kingdom.”

Under the acquisition, Pillar’s founders are joining the LemFi team, and the FCA-approved licence will support launching physical and virtual cards linked to Apple Pay and Google Pay.