Zepz acquires Pomelo to expand beyond rermittances

By Puja Sharma

Zepz, the global payments group behind WorldRemit and Sendwave, announced the acquisition of a credit-based product called Pomelo International, Inc, a platform that integrates consumer credit and global remittances with a credit card designed for money transfer.

Pomelo is a San Francisco-based FinTech company focused on cards, lending and credit building, with a strong presence in the Philippines. The acquisition signals Zepz’s expansion beyond remittances into wider financial services for cross-border and underserved users in the Global South.

This move builds on the Sendwave Wallet, further extending Zepz’s capabilities beyond money movement into cards, lending, credit and longer-term financial tools. Together, this broader product offering helps customers better plan, protect and improve their financial futures.

“Acquiring Pomelo is a natural next step in our evolution beyond remittances,” said Mark Lenhard, CEO of Zepz.“It will allow us to offer customers access to cards and credit services, and support our broader ambition of financial empowerment for cross-border communities. Pomelo is a strong product built by a fantastic team, and we’re looking forward to extending these capabilities together over the long term.”

“This is an exciting next chapter for Pomelo, and our mission to help people build their financial future doing what matters most – helping families,” said Eric Velasquez Frenkiel, CEO at Pomelo. “Zepz shares our focus on serving cross-border communities and has tremendous potential to accelerate access to credit and everyday financial tools for people who have historically been underserved.”

With this acquisition, Zepz continues to advance its ambition of becoming the most trusted financial partner for cross-border communities, expanding beyond money movement to offer practical financial tools that support stability and long-term opportunity. Whilst the acquisition has taken place, the Pomelo product has been temporarily paused for customers while Zepz integrates it into its product roadmap.