WorldRemit’s online money transfer service is now available in Texas, the company announced Thursday.
The company is a rival of Dallas-based MoneyGram International (Nasdaq: MGI), which provides worldwide money wiring at CVS stores and other retailers as well as online.
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MoneyGram recently announced upgrades to its online services to compete with companies like WorldRemit.
WorldRemit said it entered the Texas market to serve the state’s 4.3 million immigrants, the third-largest foreign population in the U.S. The Lone Star state is home to 2.5 million Mexican-born citizens and has large populations from India, China, and the Philippines.
“There are significant immigrant communities from all over the world living in the Dallas area such as Mexicans, Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Ghanaians, and Nigerians,” the company said in an emailed statement to the Dallas Business Journal. “At WorldRemit we’re offering these communities a convenient, low-cost digital money transfer service. Some immigrant communities in Dallas such as those from parts of sub-Saharan Africa and parts of southeast Asia have previously not had access to a quick and low-cost remittance service.”
According to The Migration Policy Institute, the state of Texas is home to over 4.3 million migrants, the 3rd highest foreign-born population in the country. Nearly 17% of Texas residents are foreign-born, and with WorldRemit’s service, they will now be able to send money to their friends and families in other countries as easily as an instant message.
Texas is home to 2.5 million Mexico-born citizens, 190,000 from India, 118,000 from China, and 91,000 from the Philippines. As these migrant populations continue to grow, foreign-born US citizens will continue to positively impact the Texas economy. The American Immigration Council found that foreign-born residents contribute over USD 300 billion in purchasing power and over 600,000 jobs to the Texas economy, suggesting an immediate need for digital remittance services.
Jeff Pietras, VP for International Product Development at WorldRemit noted that, for Texas, residents an alternative to traditional money transfer services are offered by Worldremit from now on. In early 2015, WorldRemit received a USD 100 million funding round led by Technology Crossover Ventures with the goal of global expansion and a focus on serving the migrant community in the US.
