Fintech Firm Rewire Acquires Pre-Paid Solutions Provider Imagen

Israeli-founded fintech startup Rewire, the first digital wallet designed specifically for economic migrants, has “hit a key growth milestone” after acquiring Imagen, a provider of pre-paid card solutions for migrants in Israel.

The acquisition is Rewire’s first. It means the growing fintech specialist can now provide pre-paid debit cards for migrants in Israel, a service it has already rolled out in its other locations across the UK and Europe.

The move comes after the financial services specialist – which nearly doubled in size last year to more than 600,000 registered users – signed partnership agreements with value SIM provider Lebara and payments platform Paysafe. The fintech firm also recently rolled out insurance products for migrants in its British and European markets.

Rewire’s prepaid card is a popular solution for economic migrants who often struggle to open a bank account when they first arrive in their host country. With no permanent address or credit history, migrants are left underserved by traditional banks.

Imagen currently operates more than 30,000 active pre-paid MasterCards connected to the Bank of Jerusalem, and the number has more than doubled in the past two years. The company works directly with hundreds of organisations that employ migrant workers and enables employers to pay salaries directly onto the card. Once money has been loaded onto the card, it can be used in the same way as any other debit card.

The acquisition brings Rewire a step closer to its aim of providing a holistic migration package that serves migrants and their families throughout their time overseas.

“Rewire’s first acquisition is testament to how much we’ve grown over the last few years. And Imagen is a great fit for Rewire. The company has a proven track record of providing innovative services to underbanked populations. We know because we’ve worked with them for three years. The pre-paid cards will help us expand our product portfolio in Israel and bring our services in line with what we are already able to offer migrants across the UK and Europe,”

“This is a significant step in our growth, but also in our mission to promote financial inclusion for migrants,” Guy Kashtan, co-founder and CEO of Rewire, said.

“Becoming part of the Rewire family made sense for Imagen. Our solutions are tailored to those who cannot open a conventional bank account, and working migrants make up a large part of our customer base. By integrating our pre-paid card into the Rewire portfolio, our existing customers will have easy access to additional financial services that they may have been excluded from in the past,”Snapir Chayat, CEO at Imagen, said