HomeSend was incubated as a strategic partnership between eServGlobal and BICS from 2008 – 2013. At its inception, HomeSend was a remittance platform that allowed Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to connect mobile wallets to international remittance while offering Money Transfer Organisations (MTOs) some digital and physical end-points. The potential market for Person-to-Person (P2P) remittance transfers was estimated at US$600Bn through official channels, with potentially up to another 50 per cent through unofficial methods.
Source: The World Bank

As a strategic partnership, HomeSend gathered significant traction with ‘receiving’ markets – securing agreements with several Tier 1 Operator Groups and large MTOs – such as Moneygram and WorldRemit.

In 2013, eServGlobal and BICS entered into a Joint Venture (JV) with Mastercard for HomeSend. The two existing shareholders believed that Mastercard, with its financial pedigree and existing relationships with over 24,000 financial institutions, would be a strong partner for this venture, bringing considerable expertise in taking solutions to market and offering ‘sending’ power.

The JV officially launched with all three partners in April 2014 and has evolved to become a truly global remittance, payments and disbursement hub offering services from multiple digital and physical send-points, to multiple digital and physical end-points, both as a stand-alone product and as a technology platform for Mastercard
products.

HomeSend’s trajectory until now has relied on revenues through MTOs, which it has secured itself. Mastercard, being the larger partner in the JV, provides the largest opportunity for acceleration, either through referrals of the HomeSend service to Mastercard’s own customer base or through the utilisation of the HomeSend platform for Mastercard products, in particular Mastercard Send.