Plan 9 works with a small number of impact technology companies where we believe we can make a material difference.
Pipit
Global
From Bootstrap to Global Exit
This case study draws on Ollie Walsh’s own experience as co-founder and CEO of Pipit Global, from its founding in 2013 through to its acquisition by Qenta. It is founder and operator experience, not a Plan 9 client engagement, and it now shapes the growth strategy work Ollie does with founders navigating their own scale-up stage.
The Situation
Ollie Walsh co-founded Pipit Global in 2013 with Julian Callaghan and Rory Ryan, and served as CEO from inception through to acquisition. The idea came from personal frustration. After relocating from Ireland to England, Ollie ran into a problem millions of migrants face every day: opening a bank account in a new country is hard.
Without one, the only real option for sending money home is a traditional Money Transfer Office, with fees running as high as 9%. From Pipit’s perspective, that fee was a tax on the poor, paid disproportionately by the people who could least afford it.
The Challenge
Pipit set out to help migrants support their families back home more cheaply and more safely, without needing a bank account. That meant building payments infrastructure for people the traditional banking system leaves behind, in a highly regulated industry, from a base in Ireland, while competing for capital and partners against household-name incumbents.
Bitcoin and blockchain had promised to modernise cross-border payments, but tight banking regulation kept them largely out of reach for the migrants who needed them most.
What We Found
Being genuinely novel is a double-edged sword. Even in a fast-moving sector like FinTech, buyers were reluctant to work with Pipit precisely because there was nothing else quite like it in the market.
Investors reacted the same way. Every investor said they wanted something innovative and new, but a model with no direct competitors read as unproven rather than exciting. What investors actually wanted was new, but not totally new.
The Strategy
Rather than trying to get migrants into a bank account, Pipit made it possible to move money without one. The platform integrated directly with banks and billing platforms in emerging markets, so a migrant could lodge cash into a family member’s home bank account using a Pipit barcode at a collection agent, or pay household bills such as school fees and utilities directly to the biller.
Instead of working against the cash economy, Pipit worked with it, building the rails that let cash move as easily, cheaply and safely as a digital transfer.
Implementation
Bootstrapping. From 2013, all three co-founders worked full-time while doing the early research, business planning, MVP build and first partner sign-ups themselves, with no outside capital.
Early backing. Pipit raised angel funding from investors in Ireland, matched by Key Fund in Sheffield, a social impact investment fund.
Accelerator. The team relocated from Ireland to Sheffield for seven months to take part in the Dot Forge Impact Accelerator.
Venture capital. Pipit closed a VC round led by West Loop Ventures in Chicago and Enterprise Ireland, followed by further angel investment from Ireland, the UK and the US.
Team and technology. The team grew to ten people, eight in Galway and two in the UK, while the product was rebuilt from MVP into enterprise-grade infrastructure capable of handling regulated, cross-border financial transactions at scale.
Partnerships. Pipit signed partners across the EU, Africa, India, North America and Asia. In Africa, it signed deals with Flutterwave, Afripay, Zeepay and Interpay Africa, and partnered with Cellulant, first for remittances into seven countries and, five months later, across eighteen countries spanning B2B and B2C payment services. Through Cellulant, Pipit introduced “for-purpose” remittances, letting migrants pay bills and eCommerce merchants directly at a fraction of the cost of a traditional remittance.
The Result
Pipit Global was acquired by Qenta, a global payments company specialising in remittance networks and migrant communities. At the time of the deal, Pipit operated in more than 45 countries, with a globally compliant network of over 1 million cash pay-in points and access to 300 million mobile money accounts.
As part of the deal, Ollie Walsh was appointed President of Qenta to lead the integrated platform’s expansion. Co-founder and CTO Rory Ryan moved across too, along with four other key members of the Pipit team.
Founder Perspective
“Cross-border payments have long been far too expensive, slow and inaccessible, particularly for migrants or those without banking services.”
Ollie Walsh, Co-founder and CEO, Pipit Global
Facing a Similar Growth Challenge?
Plan 9 works with a small number of impact technology companies where we believe we can make a material difference.