Raenest enters India and Philippines after US market enlargement

Raenest, a Nigerian cross-border funds firm that provides multicurrency accounts for freelancers and companies, has launched its companies in India and the Philippines, increasing its footprint into South and Southeast Asia to focus on freelancers and digital professionals incomes earnings throughout borders.

The enlargement follows the corporate’s entry into the US market in October 2025, the place it rolled out 4 new merchandise, together with sooner freelance payouts, inventory investing, and stablecoin conversion. 

Whereas not all newly launched merchandise are stay in Asia, Raenest instructed TechCabal that customers in India and the Philippines now have entry to its core fee instruments, excluding native foreign money wallets and US inventory investments.

The corporate’s determination to focus on these particular markets was pushed by important knowledge concerning the freelance financial system.

“These two markets, India and the Philippines, are the highest international locations in terms of freelancers who’re primarily based of their residence international locations however working with corporations within the US, the UK, and different elements of the world,” Victor Alade, Raenest’s co-founder, instructed TechCabal. 

In response to Alade, inside firm knowledge confirmed repeated sign-up makes an attempt from customers in each international locations even earlier than the official launch, alongside broader market indicators round freelancer inhabitants measurement and incomes potential.

Information from the Related Chambers of Commerce and Business of India (ASSOCHAM) revealed that India had over 15 million freelancers, with 23% incomes above ₹40 lakh ($44,000), whereas the Philippine Institute for Growth Research (PIDS) reported a 208% development in freelance revenues from 2019 to 2020. These components, the corporate notes, made each international locations pure entry factors for its Asian enlargement.

Raenest says it’s coming into the South and Southeast Asian markets as a foreign-currency platform, not as a alternative for home banks. In each markets, customers can open overseas foreign money accounts within the US Greenback ($), the British Pound (£), and the Euro (€) and obtain funds utilizing Raenest’s FastTrack characteristic, which hyperlinks on to their Upwork accounts. 

In response to the corporate, freelancers utilizing FastTrack on Upwork can obtain funds in underneath one hour, together with on weekends and public holidays. 

Customers may obtain USDT or USDC funds of their stablecoin wallets, that are robotically transformed to {dollars}. Funds in these completely different wallets can then be withdrawn on to native financial institution accounts in native foreign money. 

Raenest can be rolling out invoicing instruments in these markets to permit freelancers and consultants invoice purchasers and monitor earnings inside the app. The corporate generates income from buyer deposits into their Raenest International Accounts and from withdrawals. It intends to generate income in each markets utilizing the identical strategy.

Raenest is coming into markets already served by world and regional cross-border fee platforms resembling Karbon Enterprise, Skydo, Sensible, and Gray, alongside native banks. Nevertheless, the corporate argues that the majority current options are designed primarily for remittances, not for freelancers and distant employees.

“These options aren’t tailor-made for this set of customers. They primarily deal with remittances,” Alade mentioned. “However we’ve tailor-made this to work for freelancers and distant employees who’re primarily based in these international locations.”

Raenest says partnerships with licenced fee suppliers, together with TerraPay, a digital funds infrastructure firm, have been central to its Asia rollout. By working as a foreign-based remittance platform reasonably than providing native wallets, the corporate says it has been capable of navigate regulatory necessities in each international locations.

This enlargement comes precisely one 12 months after Raenest raised $11 million in Sequence A funding to enter new markets and introduce new product options. 

Based in 2022 by Victor Alade, Richard Oyome, and Sodruldeen Mustapha as an Employer of File (EOR), Raenest at the moment operates throughout a number of African markets, together with Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda, and is licensed in Canada. 

India and the Philippines, Alade hinted, are solely the start. “These are the 2 markets we’re beginning with, however we are going to proceed to see extra of that,” he mentioned, including that future launches would rely upon consumer demand and regulatory readiness.