Nigeria’s Raenest expands into India and the Philippines to target Asia’s freelancers

Raenest, a Nigerian cross-border payments company that offers multicurrency accounts for freelancers and businesses, has launched its services in India and the Philippines, expanding its footprint into South and Southeast Asia to target freelancers and digital professionals earning income across borders.

The expansion follows the company’s entry into the US market in October 2025, where it rolled out four new products, including faster freelance payouts, stock investing, and stablecoin conversion. 

While not all newly launched products are live in Asia, Raenest told TechCabal that users in India and the Philippines now have access to its core payment tools, excluding local currency wallets and US stock investments.

The company’s decision to target these specific markets was driven by significant data regarding the freelance economy.

“These two markets, India and the Philippines, are the top countries when it comes to freelancers who are based in their home countries but working with companies in the US, the UK, and other parts of the world,” Victor Alade, Raenest’s co-founder, told TechCabal. 

According to Alade, internal company data showed repeated sign-up attempts from users in both countries even before the official launch, alongside broader market indicators around freelancer population size and earning potential.

Data from the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) revealed that India had over 15 million freelancers, with 23% earning above ₹40 lakh ($44,000), while the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) reported a 208% growth in freelance revenues from 2019 to 2020. These factors, the company notes, made both countries natural entry points for its Asian expansion.

Raenest says it is entering the South and Southeast Asian markets as a foreign-currency platform, not as a replacement for domestic banks. In both markets, users can open foreign currency accounts in the US Dollar ($), the British Pound (£), and the Euro (€) and receive payments using Raenest’s FastTrack feature, which links directly to their Upwork accounts. 

According to the company, freelancers using FastTrack on Upwork can receive payments in under one hour, including on weekends and public holidays. 

Users can also receive USDT or USDC payments in their stablecoin wallets, which are automatically converted to dollars. Funds in these different wallets can then be withdrawn directly to local bank accounts in local currency. 

Raenest is also rolling out invoicing tools in these markets to allow freelancers and consultants bill clients and track income within the app. The company generates revenue from customer deposits into their Raenest Global Accounts and from withdrawals. It intends to generate revenue in both markets using the same approach.

Raenest is entering markets already served by global and regional cross-border payment platforms such as Karbon Business, Skydo, Wise, and Grey, alongside local banks. However, the company argues that most existing solutions are designed primarily for remittances, not for freelancers and remote workers.

“Those solutions are not tailored for this set of users. They mainly focus on remittances,” Alade said. “But we’ve tailored this to work for freelancers and remote workers who are based in these countries.”

Raenest says partnerships with licenced payment providers, including TerraPay, a digital payments infrastructure company, have been central to its Asia rollout. By operating as a foreign-based remittance platform rather than offering local wallets, the company says it has been able to navigate regulatory requirements in both countries.

This expansion comes exactly one year after Raenest raised $11 million in Series A funding to enter new markets and introduce new product features. 

Founded in 2022 by Victor Alade, Richard Oyome, and Sodruldeen Mustapha as an Employer of Record (EOR), Raenest currently operates across multiple African markets, including Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda, and is licensed in Canada. 

India and the Philippines, Alade hinted, are only the beginning. “These are the two markets we’re starting with, but we will continue to see more of that,” he said, adding that future launches would depend on user demand and regulatory readiness.