Remitee is becoming the “AWS of remittances” for banks and fintechs
When Sergio Saravia was growing up in Argentina’s Patagonia region, he watched his father travel 80 kilometers just to send money back home to Bolivia. The process was time-consuming, expensive, and stressful – yet it was the only way to ensure his grandmother could buy what she needed.
Decades later, Saravia found himself working as CFO for Latin America at Western Union, the very company his father once relied on. That experience gave him a front-row seat to the mechanics of the remittance business… and its limits.
“After forty years, for 70% of the migrant population in the world, the process was still the same as what my father and grandmother experienced,” Saravia told Refresh Miami. “I decided to quit and build something different, with a clear purpose: to change the lives of migrant families.”
That purpose became Remitee, the fintech platform he founded in 2017. Rather than requiring families to send money in the traditional sense, Remitee offers embeddable infrastructure that banks, fintechs, and retailers can plug into. Saravia describes it as the “AWS of remittances.” Institutions integrate Remitee’s APIs to power instant transfers, bill payments, and top-ups in more than 50 countries. Behind the scenes, the company manages FX, liquidity, and compliance so its partners don’t have to.
For Saravia, the mission goes beyond sending money.
“The real problem is not about transferring dollars from one country to another,” he said. “It’s about managing family expenses across different currencies.” He gave the example of a Colombian worker in the U.S. who wants to support family back home. Instead of wiring cash, Remitee enables them to pay the electricity bill in pesos directly from their U.S. bank app.
That shift in perspective has attracted heavyweight clients. Banco Santander, BancoEstado in Chile, Banco Galicia in Argentina, and BCP in Peru are among the more than 40 enterprise partners already using Remitee. Retailers and digital wallets have also adopted the platform, embedding remittance capabilities where customers already transact: whether that’s a gas station loyalty app or a payment terminal network.
“We are transforming the customer experience by embedding cross-border services into ecosystems people already trust and use daily,” Saravia asserted. “You don’t need to leave your bank app, waste an hour at a transfer shop, and lose the money you could have earned during that time.”
The company’s model reflects that strategy. Remitee earns revenue through transaction fees, FX spread, and increasingly through software components like custom front-ends built for bank clients. That combination has fueled growth, as has the company’s expanding footprint.
Currently, Remitee has 100 employees globally across Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Spain, and now Miami, where Saravia is laying the groundwork for a U.S. office, based in Miami, and broader commercial expansion.
The move to Miami is no accident. “I always say I am living in the capital city of Latin America,” he said with a smile. “Miami is strategically positioned as the link between the U.S., Latin America, and even Europe.”
Saravia’s personal story is also intertwined with Remitee’s trajectory. After leaving Western Union, he spent a year at MIT learning from entrepreneurs and diving into blockchain technology. Today, Remitee uses stablecoins and Ripple’s XRP for certain settlements, while also exploring blockchain for reconciliation processes. The technology, he explained, can cut costs and reduce errors in cross-border accounting.
This year, Remitee hit another milestone: joining Endeavor Miami and the global Endeavor network as a selected Endeavor Entrepreneur. For Saravia, the recognition was especially meaningful. He first learned about Endeavor in the early 2000s while working in Argentina, long before he ever launched a startup.
“Becoming a double entrepreneur, both personally and through Endeavor, is a dream come true,” he said. “It’s a huge network and an opportunity to impact new entrepreneurs. I take that responsibility seriously.”
Looking ahead, Remitee is pushing to expand licenses in Europe and the U.S., continue rolling out direct bill payment services, and grow its footprint with global banks. “Our goal is to grow ten times in the next three years,” he said.
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