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London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

bloomberg.com

31–40 of 192 posts

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#31

This is great, as someone who frequently transfers money from the US to Canada I wish I had known about this sooner. Hopefully they can actually make some money.

They are bleeding a ton of money.

For there idea to work they need to get money transferred into all directions...

They had Nigeria as a supported country. But they removed it (sadly)

But money was probably transferred only one direction. So they lost money.

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#32

Interesting that they use the word expat instead of immigrant. I don't think if these two were from Asia/Africa they would have been called expats.

>I don't think if these two were from Asia/Africa they would have been called expats.

And you base that on....? Why do people search for injustice?

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#33
post #25

(Tone: Genuine question I'm curious about because I don't know fintech.) How does this model end up interacting with wire transfer laws?

From (way down in) the article:

"In April, after New Hampshire’s banking department cited TransferWise for operating in the state for a year without meeting money-transmitter regulations, the company agreed to pay a penalty equivalent to the fees it had earned during that time. (The startup has since begun offering its services in the U.S. through a partnership with a fully licensed bank, New York-based Community Federal Savings Bank, and has obtained its own money-transmitter licenses in many states.)"

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#35

Interesting that they use the word expat instead of immigrant. I don't think if these two were from Asia/Africa they would have been called expats.

> I don't think if these two were from Asia/Africa they would have been called expats. And you base that on....? Why do people search for injustice?

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.[0]

-MLK

[0]: https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham....

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#36

If you're poor, you're an immigrant. If you're rich, you're an expat.

Reminds me of the Einstein quote:

> If I am proved correct,” he said, “the Germans will call me a German, the Swiss will call me a Swiss citizen, and the French will call me a great scientist. If relativity is proved wrong, the French will call me a Swiss, the Swiss will call me a German, and the Germans will call me a Jew.

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#37

Interesting that they use the word expat instead of immigrant. I don't think if these two were from Asia/Africa they would have been called expats.

It's pretty well known that (relatively affluent) white immigrants are called expats instead of immigrants.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jnylander/2015/04/03/in-china-wh...

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#39

Interesting that they use the word expat instead of immigrant. I don't think if these two were from Asia/Africa they would have been called expats.

If they were working in a coffee shop, they would also be called immigrants.

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#40

Interesting that they use the word expat instead of immigrant. I don't think if these two were from Asia/Africa they would have been called expats.

> I don't think if these two were from Asia/Africa they would have been called expats. And you base that on....? Why do people search for injustice?

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