LemFi wins UK approval to acquire investment platform Wealth8

LemFi has obtained UK regulatory clearance to buy Wealth8, an investment platform built to widen access to diversified portfolios with minimums from £8. The deal adds wealth and investment services to a fintech that has served more than two million customers sending money from Europe and North America to 20 emerging markets, according to Finextra.

The acquisition broadens LemFi’s product set at a time when fintechs focused on migrant communities are expanding beyond cross-border payments into savings, credit and investing. For customers, the commercial logic is a single platform that can handle remittances to family abroad while also offering tools to build a financial record and allocate money into portfolios in the country where they live.

Wealth8 was created as an inclusive investment service with a particular focus on the Black community. Its proposition has included low entry thresholds and diversified portfolios, which are designed to spread customer money across multiple assets rather than concentrate it in a single holding.

LemFi, founded in 2021 by former Opay executives Ridwan Olalere and Rian Cochran, began with remittances. That starting point gave the company a direct link to immigrant households, where cross-border transfers can sit alongside domestic financial needs such as savings products, credit access and long-term investment accounts.

The Wealth8 purchase follows a series of moves by LemFi to add regulated financial services in the UK and Europe. Last year, the company acquired UK fintech Pillar to extend credit services for immigrant customers. It also launched an instant-access savings account powered by ClearBank.

LemFi has also received approval from the Central Bank of Ireland to acquire Bureau Buttercrane, a move Finextra reported gives the company immediate access to the European Economic Area. In regulatory terms, such approvals can be central to fintech expansion because they determine where a company can offer financial products and under which supervisory regime.

The company has recently chosen London as its global headquarters and said it would invest £100 million in the UK over five years. The UK has become a focal point for LemFi’s expansion plans as it adds services around its original payments business.

LemFi said the Wealth8 acquisition fits a customer journey that starts with settling in a new country and sending money home, then moves into saving, building a credit profile and investing for greater financial security. No financial terms for the Wealth8 transaction were disclosed in the Finextra report.

This story draws on original reporting from Finextra Research.