Meet Geegpay, a leading digital payments and invoicing platform for African freelancers on Upwork and Fiverr

Geegpay is the flagship product of Raenest, a fintech building borderless payment infrastructure for African talents and businesses. The flagship product automates the invoicing process used by freelancers to receive payments for work done while providing multi-currency accounts to keep them.

As globalisation and skilled workers increase in Africa, the traditional workplace becomes borderless.

Businesses looking for talent are no longer limited to hiring within their geographical location but can extend their search to the rest of the world. Thereby opening them up to a greater range of talent options and suitable work models, like full-time, part-time, and project-based hires.

Similarly, Africans have acquired digital skills to work remotely for international companies. Let’s take developers as a subset of the skilled workforce. A report by Google and Accenture states that professional developers increased by 3.8% and now account for 0.4% of the continent’s non-agricultural workforce. Interestingly, at least one in three African developers work for companies based outside the continent.

How do they get paid?

Previously, skilled Africans seeking remote work were excluded from the global economy. But as Africa-led cross-border payments startups continue to emerge, the challenges of high fees, long transaction completion timelines and poor customer service are being solved. Yet, receiving payment is not the only challenge.

Registered businesses require invoices for proper bookkeeping and compliance. Freelancers and remote African workers have to use additional platforms to generate invoices for their payment. After receiving their foreign currency payments, they must convert it to their local currency or spend it online. Often, these come at high costs, reducing their pay's eventual value.

"Geegpay by Raenest was created to simplify global payments and automate invoicing for freelancers while minimizing transfer fees and unfavourable exchange rates," Victor Alade, Co-founder and CEO of Raenest—Geegpay's parent company, tells Benjamindada.com. "Since our launch, we have remained committed to providing trustworthy payment solutions to African freelancers and remote workers."

With Geegpay, freelancers can create and automate invoices, open foreign bank accounts in global currencies–USD, GBP and EUR, and instantly generate a virtual USD debit card and convert their foreign exchange to their local currency.

Geegpay has become a popular platform for freelancers on sites like Upwork and Fiverr, with Raenest processing tens of millions of dollars for freelancers and employees on these platforms within just eight months of launch.

Speaking of use cases, co-founder and COO Richard Oyome says, "Most of our 200,000 customers are full-time remote employees or freelancers who work for employers and clients in the US, the UK and Europe. These are talented people on freelance marketplaces like Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer.com, People per hour and much more. We have also seen many customers connect their Geegpay USD bank account to platforms like Deel, Payoneer, and Remote.com. This makes them easily receive and convert at leading local exchange rates."

Geegpay's popularity is due to its simplicity, fast payment processing, and low transaction fees. "Sometime last year, a client in the US was ready to cancel a project if I didn't provide a US bank account for him to pay into. Geegpay helped with the virtual account, and I was able to save the project," Francesco, a Geegpay user, said.

Raenest's services extend beyond freelancers, as the company also offers foreign business bank accounts and cards to African startups. While Geegpay is focused on individuals, Raenest for Business is focused on businesses. These businesses can use the platform to pay their contractors and suppliers in up to 30 countries in their preferred currencies.

In October 2022, we named Raenest as one of the Nigerian startups in the Techstars Toronto Winter batch. They also closed a pre-seed round with participation from Ventures Platform, Seedstars, TCVP, Voltron Capital, Ajim Capital, Africa collision fund, Adamantium Fund, Hoaq Club, and other angel investors.

With its focus on addressing the unique challenges of working and operating in Africa, Raenest is poised to impact the region's business landscape, offering solutions like Geegpay that streamline invoicing and payment processes, all while keeping costs low and improving cost efficiency for freelancers and businesses alike.

This article was created in partnership with Raenest.