Blockchain

Lala World Raises Us$ 2 Million To Empower Migrant Workers Across The World

Singapore based blockchain financial product ecosystem LALA World has raised US$ 2 million in series A funding to help empower migrant workers and their families. Founded in April 2016, LALA World’s vision is to empower the underbanked and under-served to perform various financial services without intermediaries and with minimum transaction costs.

Currently, migrant workers are charged around 10% in commissions and fees when sending money to their families through intermediaries. Using the blockchain, LALA World can reduce transaction costs to under 1%, bypassing middlemen and ensuring significant savings for migrants and their unbanked families.

image credit via Lala World Facebook page

Services offered under the LALA World are centered around LALA Wallet – a platform providing its users financial flexibility. The firm is working with governments, corporates and local communities in Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, Azerbaijan; with new partnerships set to be announced soon. In Malaysia, LALAWorld has signed a partnership to offer migrants a LALA Kit (mobile phone, sim card, etc) and onboard them onto the LALA World ecosystem before they leave their home country.

The aim is to get 500,000 migrant workers in Malaysia onboard the LALA World ecosystem over the next 12 months. LALA World further plans to launch in India, UAE, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and other markets following shortly after.

Growing up in a family of migrants, LALA World Founder and CEO Sankalp Shangari understands the issues related to limited communications and banking access.

Sankalp Shangari

“Around 2.5 billion people don’t have basic access to proper financial services. The majority of the underbanked face severe challenges as they lack basic banking education. Sending pay-checks to their hometown would take weeks and to compound matters, they have to pay various charges, which can be pretty hefty,”

says Sankalp.

“In the past 20 years, while the world has changed and the internet has transformed things, the travails migrant workers go through are still the same. I know what they went through and that’s why I started LALAWorld.”

LALA World offers a one-stop solution of all financial services for the underbanked at a fraction of cost across international boundaries. The team behind LALA World is highly experienced and comes from adiversified background of banking and technology. LALA aims to revolutionise the way individuals, small businesses and micro-entrepreneurs transact, make domestic and cross-border payments, borrow money and associated products like insurances, cards, wealth and other general banking products.