Grey Inc.

About Grey Inc.

Grey Inc. operates as a financial technology firm focused on facilitating cross-border payments for the growing remote workforce. The company was founded in 2020 by Idorenyin Obong and Femi Aghedo, initially launching as Aboki Africa before rebranding to Grey in 2021 to reflect its global ambitions. The inspiration for the company came from Obong's personal frustrations with the tedious process of converting his USD salary to his local currency while working as a freelancer in Nigeria. This experience, shared by his co-founder, highlighted a significant market gap for a simplified international payment solution.

Obong, the CEO, brings a wealth of experience from his time as a software engineer at several fintech startups, including Paystack, Busha Digital, and Yellow Card Financial. His co-founder, Femi Aghedo, whom he met while studying computer science in college, serves as the COO. After initially bootstrapping with personal savings, Grey gained significant momentum after being accepted into Y Combinator's Winter 2022 batch, which was pivotal in securing a $2 million seed funding round later that year. To date, the company has raised a total of $2.5 million.

The core of Grey's business is providing virtual international bank accounts in USD, EUR, and GBP, enabling freelancers, digital nomads, and remote workers to receive payments from clients abroad seamlessly. The platform allows users to convert these funds into their local currency at competitive exchange rates and withdraw to their local bank accounts or mobile money wallets. In addition to individual accounts, Grey has launched Grey Business, a service targeting micro and small businesses with cheaper options for sending and receiving payments across the continent. The business model generates revenue through transaction fees, commissions from services like gift cards and bill payments, and potentially monthly fees for foreign currency accounts. Headquartered in Delaware, US, Grey is regulated by FinCEN in the US and FINTRAC in Canada, serving users across Africa, Europe, the US, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.