The Year of the Ships 🚀

In a world of movers and shakers, only a few become builders. 

Though both roles are important—movers and shakers are catalysts for change and builders are those who take action and build something entirely new to solve a critical problem—places with builders advance in leaps compared to those without.

The most fortunate thing for any civilization, association, or group is when builders not only exist but rise, taking the initiative to solve critical problems.

Throughout history, we’ve seen them. Wright brothers with airplanes, Carnegie with trains, and later Ford with cars. We have hundreds of examples of them.

Take this example.

A town once had a steep gorge that divided it into two worlds. On one side were farmers, and on the other, a bustling market eager for their goods. 

But the gorge made business difficult, slowing down the flow of produce.

A town with a gorge 

For years, movers and shakers tried to find solutions. 

They balanced goods on boats or used ropes to transport them, but these solutions were inefficient and risky. 

The ropes could snap, goods got damaged. Farmers themselves were scared of making the journey across the divide.

Then a builder arrived. He saw the problem, the inefficiency, and instead of following the old ways, he built a bridge over the gorge. 

This simple yet innovative solution connected the farmers to the market, allowing buyers to easily access fresh goods.

In one move, the old problems went away.

A bridge built over a gorge

2024 was a year where tech broke many boundaries in Africa. We saw movers and shakers but we also saw builders.

Globally, the golden child was undoubtedly OpenAI. It closed the largest VC funding round ever and just kept shipping products at breakneck speed which made both counterparts and distant cousins jealous.

There was even a joke on the internet that OpenAI had developed an ultra-secret robot that built and shipped its large language models (LLMs). 🚀

While OpenAI made headlines, Africa wasn’t left behind.

We saw the crowning of two unicorns this year alone. The last time Africa had a billion-dollar company was in January 2023.

Across sectors, African startups raised funding to solve local problems, including in the financial services space, where cross-border finance remains a major challenge.

Many fintech builders have since come up with different pitches to bridge the global financial divide.

Some have impressed us, nonetheless, we have impressed ourselves the most.

Golden goose

Africans abroad struggle to send money home cheaply. 

They’re either sacrificing time for cost. 

Or cost for time. 

They want better options. 

Others suffering the same hassle face similar challenges receiving money from abroad.

This is why we shipped.

To build bridges that allow Africans to cross that global financial divide. Easily.

In the dramatic year of Ships, aka 2024, Palremit didn’t do badly.

• We launched our digital platforms in 2024 (we’re a little over 10 months old).
• We grew to 32,000+ users.
• Processed more than $12 million over 182,000  transactions in ten months.
• Kept a lean team of superstars.
• Sealed important partnerships that helped drive our vision. 

And we are so pumped for 2025.

But the most important question here is, what makes Palremit tick, and why are we positive about this bridge we are building? We tell it all here.

Why was Palremit conceived?

If traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) had a love-child, it would be Palremit.

We conceived Palremit because we saw the imperfections of both worlds of finance and combined them together to make a unique product that builds a bridge.

People are used to TradFi services. Since they got introduced to finance, they’ve only known TradFi all their lives.

Banks. Intermediaries. More intermediaries. 

On the other side of the divide, people jealously guard what they know about DeFi. They make it such an elusive word that scares many others away. Like TradFi, it had its problems.

Elitist. High tech-savviness. No hope for people with no knowledge of DeFi.

Whether you were #teamTradFi or #teamDeFi, you saw the problem. You saw the limitations.

So we decided to build a platform with the best qualities of both TradFi and DeFi, and none of their bad features.

This became Palremit.

It wasn’t just another fintech for us.

We built a platform where anybody, with DeFi knowledge or not, could come and interact with new finance concepts in easy-to-understand ways.

It was like playing the final boss mode of God of War on easy settings. Like you were being told exactly what to do to take down the final boss.

You can buy crypto. You can sell crypto—all with fiat money. No need for an escrow or another person to sell you crypto, removing any window for getting scammed.

You can buy and send stablecoins. Fast, easy, and anywhere. 

Because we knew we were building a hybrid financial product, it was extremely important to us to build in a way that attracted the two kinds of different people that were familiar with TradFi and DeFi.

So there was a fine line we had to operate within.

We built useful, simple-to-use products that helped users do everything from depositing fiat and crypto money, store it, transfer it, and swap between currencies.

And our users rewarded us with love.

We launched our product on February 17, 2024. We’ve been in the market for ten months and fourteen days.

Now, as we look back on our incredible journey so far, we’re beyond honored to be central to the financial lives of thousands of users on our platform.

How have we performed so far?

Let’s talk numbers.

How did Palremit perform in 2024?

In 2024, we shipped 20 products and features on Palremit.

Our users are still actively using a good number of those 20 different features. However, we’ve had to pause USD account creations (we’ll talk more about this later) to restructure the product.

So far, we’ve been rewarded with a 32,000-strong army who preach the gospel of Palremit.

We processed over $12 million for 9,000 active users (find out how we define an active user later in this article) in our first 10 months.

Importantly, we saw a decent balance between fiat and crypto adoption on our platform. 

Users are hopping onboard the crypto train, making cheaper transactions from the payment rails we created for them.

They buy (or swap) crypto on Palremit using fiat currencies (US Dollar, Nigerian Naira, or Kenyan Shillings), and use it to make payments.

Some prefer to fund their Palremit cards with crypto and make international payments.

Others like to make crypto transfers from their Palremit wallet to third-party wallets.

And some choose to just hodl their crypto, storing it as an investment value.

For us at Palremit, we’re leading many Africans into the light of hybrid finance. 

But importantly, we’re giving them a choice to experience the best of both worlds—not one over the other.

Truths can co-exist. TradFi and DeFi can piggyback off each other to create the perfect financial system that we are badly missing.

We’ll talk a bit more about our major growth metrics and reflect on what they mean for us.

But first, what were these 20 products we shipped in 2024 and how did they affect the financial lives of Africans?

Let’s talk ships.

Our Ships in 2024 🚀

2024 was an incredible year for Palremit.

Besides it being our freshman year, we experimented a lot with things that worked out, and things that did not.

We built 20 finance products that operated on the fundamentals of TradFi and DeFi to give millions of Africans access to world-class financial products.

We’ve listed them here.

#1–#2 Fiat deposits & withdrawals  

With fiat deposits, users can fund their wallets using USD, EUR, or NGN. Withdrawals let them cash out to local bank accounts or swap fiat to crypto easily.

#3–#4 Crypto on-ramps & off-ramps  

Users can buy crypto like BTC and ETH with fiat or sell crypto back to fiat or stablecoins. No middlemen, no wait times—just instant transactions.

#5–#6 Crypto transfers: Third-party & P2P  

Send crypto to other platforms (e.g., Binance) at low gas fees, or between Palremit users for free. Simply use the correct wallet address or Palremit ID.

#7 Fiat P2P transfers  

Send fiat currencies like NGN or USD to other Palremit users instantly via their Palremit ID. It’s fast, costs nothing, and great for gifting others.

#8 Multi-currency wallets  

Hold 10 currencies—4 fiat and 6 crypto—in one account. View your balances easily and manage all your financial moves in one place.

#9 Currency swaps  

Exchange fiat to crypto, crypto to crypto, or crypto to fiat in seconds. This 5-tap feature has been a user favorite.

#10 Expanded blockchain networks  

We added low-cost options like Binance Smart Chain, CELO, Optimism and Polygon, reducing fees for crypto transfers and giving users more choices.

#11 New currencies  

Palremit launched with six currencies and now supports ten, including EUR, SOL, and USDC, offering more flexibility for global transactions.

#12 Airtime & data  

Nigerian users can buy airtime and data for any network at the best rates, using fiat or crypto—even stablecoins.

#13 Rewards  

Refer friends to Palremit and earn bonuses as they transact. Our way of saying thanks for growing our community.

#14 USD cards—funded with fiat and crypto

Launched in April, these cards can be funded with fiat or crypto, making international payments effortless for users.

#15–#16 Visa & Mastercard virtual cards  

Users can choose between Visa or MasterCard USD cards—or both—for global payments. At just $2, they’re accessible and versatile.

#17 Card withdrawals  

Withdraw funds from your USD cards back into your Palremit account or local bank account when you need cash urgently.

#18 USD accounts (temporarily paused)  

Launched in August, these accounts allowed users to hold and receive USD via ACH or SWIFT. We have paused USD accounts for restructuring.

The service will return on January 30, 2025.

#19–#20 USD deposits & transfers (temporarily paused)  

USD accounts enabled deposits and global remittances. Users could send USD worldwide like local bank transfers—simple and reliable.

Whew! Looking back, it’s been a long list of wins this year—and we hope we didn’t bore you with talks of us. 

Now, let’s talk about our users and what they enjoyed doing with Palremit in 2024.

Our Top 3 products 🎖️

While we saw significant adoption across our product and feature verticals, there were three top products our users couldn’t get enough of.

#1 Swap

Our most-used product in 2024 was Swap.

When we built Palremit Swap, we knew it was going to be a hit because we loved it too.

But you guys loving it this much?

We didn’t see that coming.

People swapped $6.2 million in cash, crypto, and stablecoins on Palremit in 2024.

#2 Deposits 

Our second most-used product was deposits (fiat and crypto) which allowed users to fund their accounts with Naira (₦) or crypto from third-party apps.

Palremit users deposited cash or crypto 43,506 times, amounting to $5.4 million. The average user funded their Palremit account with $124 per transaction.

Our best guess is everybody held their cash in their wallets, ready to swarm the crypto market when it hit a bull run.

Big trust from all our Pals worldwide. 💚

#3 Withdrawals

Just as the deposits rolled in, withdrawals also rolled money out.

Our users made 37,579 withdrawals, totaling $5.1 million—an average of $136 per transaction.

Which of these three top Palremit products and features were your favorite?

Ours was Swap.

Now that we’ve let you in on what our users liked, let’s put our year into metrics.

Daily Active Users (DAUs)

As of 2024, we consider an active user as a person who registers on our platform, verifies their account, and funds it with any amount within 30 days.

As a fintech app that doesn’t offer a savings or investment product, we understand that people typically come to Palremit to make transactions where the costs are beneficial to them.

This means it is possible they don’t use our app every day. Hence why we settled with this definition.

As we grow and expand, how we define active users may change.

Now, with some help from our resident landlords, we discovered that in 2024, Palremit had 28 daily active users.

Methodology 

No, there was no math involved. We simply peeked behind the curtains to get the numbers.

Based on our definition of an active user, we found out the number of people who uniquely funded their Palremit accounts daily.

We say uniquely because it is possible that one user could fund the same Palremit account twice. We counted such users once to avoid duplicity and not skew the data.

Monthly Active Users (MAU)

We had 818 monthly active users on Palremit.

Methodology 

Same as we calculated for DAU. We collected information on all our users that uniquely funded their Palremit accounts at least once every month.

Product Stickiness Ratio

Product Stickiness Ratio measures how often our customers return to use our financial services, keeping them engaged over time.

A higher ratio means customers are more likely to stay and use our product regularly.

Our stickiness ratio this year was 3.4%, showing that while some users found great fit and use for the financial services we provide, it was still harder for them to use our app consistently.

Methodology 

We calculated the stickiness metric using the ratio of DAUs over MAUs times 100.

With the SaaS industry average being 13%, we say we still have some work to do.

Product Adoption Rate

Product adoption rate shows how quickly people are learning about using Palremit and deciding it’s the right solution for their financial needs. 

A higher adoption rate means more people are trying and sticking with our product.

Our product adoption rate in 2024 was 27.6%.

Methodology 

We calculated product adoption rate for Palremit by dividing new active users on our app against total signups, multiplied by 100.

Industry average: 17%.

Verdict: While we liked that some users loved us to the moon and back, we can still make more people see and love us.

More Product Insights 

Let’s break some more important numbers down for you.

How many transactions did we process in 2024?

Palremit processed a total $12 million from 182,660 transactions in 2024.

Why did users swap so much on our app?

In 2024, users swapped their currencies on Palremit 49,034 times, amounting to a whopping $6.2 million.

And most swaps happened between August and December.

We were even shocked at that number. People couldn’t get enough of swaps.

But we get it. It’s not just the functionality; it’s how easy and intuitive to use. We built our app keeping our design and flow modals simple, making it appealing to just about everybody that uses money in their daily life.

It’s no wonder people find it easy to swap money on Palremit. Equally, our platform is cheaper than most other places where you do currency exchanges; you can see it for yourself in our app.

P2P transactions on Palremit 

We built Palremit P2P with the theme of giving in mind.

And we’re happy that this theme resonated with our users.

In 2024, our users sent $2.2 million to friends, loved ones, and business partners across 3,934 P2P transactions.

The idea of giving even came bigger in December—fit for the right season. Looks like our users certainly enjoyed gifting a little too much.

What were our challenges in 2024?

This was quite possibly the hardest section of this article to write.

While 2024 came with unending flows of partnerships and wins for us, some challenges still tried to shake our core.

Getting new users to reach their aha moments quickly and hit product fit were two battles we fought all year.

At some point, this led us to rein in all our products to try and make them resonate with our users.

However, one thing we realized was, despite the flexibility of our platform and money—and the need to transact money—being ubiquitous, our app wasn’t made for everyone.

We later learned to accept that. And in the coming year, we’re building our product and messaging to closely align with the needs and goals of the people who fit our core customer profile.

Looking Ahead: What’s Next in 2025?

Finally, in a year where shipping products—shipping important products to move startups from zero to one—came naturally for many operators, we’re super proud of our journey.

And of the many people who followed us through this journey in 2024.

In 2025, we are picking up more pace.

We’re growing our customer base and improving our product stickiness.

We’re expanding into more countries and regions.

We’re introducing more currencies (fiat and crypto) to bridge the global financial divide for Africans all over the continent.

We’re improving our platforms, especially from a design, interface, and flow perspective.

We’re pursuing more licenses and scaling our products in more markets.

Most importantly, we are building a strong army of Pals all over the world.

If you want to be a part of the amazing financial culture we’ve got going, you should have downloaded your Palremit app yesterday.

Lucky you, we saved you a spot. Download the Palremit app on Google PlayStore or Apple Store to experience true financial freedom on the go. You can swap money between USDT and other local currencies, so you can start using your money without borders.