Remitly debuts on Nasdaq, plans for more hiring in Seattle and beyond

Seattle-based banking and remittance startup Remitly debuted on the Nasdaq on Thursday.

The company, which is trading under the ticker symbol RELY, priced its stock at $43 on Wednesday, and the price jumped to over $53 before closing at $47.85. Remitly co-founder and COO Josh Hug said the company now has over 1,600 employees globally and plans to continue hiring in Seattle and elsewhere.

"We see lots of opportunities to continue to grow and invest," Hug said. "Ultimately the team that we are continuing to grow is going to be what's going to deliver our long-term value."

Hug said Remitly is poised for the extra public scrutiny that comes with being a publicly traded company because of its maturity and rigorous standards. As a fintech company with lots of regulatory hurdles to clear, he said, Remitly has already held itself to high standards to get licensed, find bank partners and combat fraud.

"That culture created the right discipline for us to make sure that we're solving customer problems, which is first and foremost, but doing it in the right way and not taking short cuts," Hug said.

Remitly's 1,600-plus employees marks a significant increase in recent months for the company. Remitly co-founder and CEO Matt Oppenheimer told the Business Journal in December the company's employee count had crossed the 1,000 mark.

Remitly, founded in 2011, allows customers to send money abroad through a bank deposit, cash pickup, mobile money and home delivery. Last year, the company launched a banking service for immigrants called Passbook, which doesn't require a social security number. The company also raised $85 million last year and reached a value of $1.5 billion.

Remitly is just the latest company in the Seattle area to go public recently. In December, Seattle-based Porch went public on the Nasdaq through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company. Seattle-based Rover followed suit in August. Redmond-based Paymentus, meanwhile, went public on the New York Stock Exchange in May.

Despite the company's growth, Hug said Remitly is not ready to make any decisions on its office space needs in the Seattle area until its post-Covid work plans become clearer.

"We're still working through what the policies are going to be," Hug said.