A growing and robust team formed in Cambridge and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York at the start of the pandemic in 2020 is working to make sending money to the Philippines affordable, convenient and hassle-free.
TANGapp is an international peer-to-per mobile payment app that enables Filipino-Americans and overseas Filipino workers in the US to send money to the Philippines with a flat remittance fee of 3 percent, which is one of the lowest in the industry.
“Our goal is to lower it even more,” said Rebecca Kersch, the Filipina-Dutch founder and chief executive of TANGapp.
Kersch, a Harvard graduate, brought a team of 12 to the Philippines—their pioneer market—this week. She said she aimed to further expand the team and reach more markets in three to five years.
Remittances from the US to the Philippines amount to $11 billion annually, but the costs each year represent about an entire month’s wages because of high fees, said Kersch.
Propelled by a thrust to help people like her aunt, who is an overseas Filipino worker, Kersch is on a path to make remittances a daily occurrence by providing an easy way to send money from the US to the Philippines.
“We started TANGapp so my tita, and millions of other OFWs, have an easier, more convenient and less expensive way to send money back home in an otherwise lengthy and expensive process,” said Kersch.
Kersch and her team built an app that is easy to download, set up and connect to US bank for senders and PH bank or e-wallet for receivers. Senders can remit as little as $5, making it an innovative and true international peer-to-peer mobile payment app.
Filipinos abroad send over $35 billion to the Philippines every year. Recipients in the Philippines mainly rely on cash pick-ups which are costly and inconvenient. Kersch and TANGapp are working to make improvements in the industry by offering transparent low fees and a live most-favorable exchange rate.
Team members from the US, Europe and India joined the Philippine-based team as they meet with current and prospective business partners, hold community events and learn from and about the ways of life of the Filipino. This is in support of the company’s social mission, which is to help improve the lives of Filipinos both at home and abroad.
“At TANGapp, we believe that digital mobile payment services can improve for Filipinos. Whether they are one of the 4.5 million Filipinos working in the US or the tens of millions of unbanked in the Philippines, every Filipino deserves access to the ever-growing international digital economy,” said Kersch.
“That’s why we’ve set out to create more than just a remittance app. One day like today, sending money overseas, paying for groceries, and supporting a cause will be as easy as texting. All on the same easy-to-use mobile app,” she said.
TANGapp comes from the Filipino word to receive, “tanggap.” TANGapp cares most about the recipients, their loved ones and importantly their progress and their causes. TANG also stands for Transact and Go.
TANGapp, a free mobile remittance app, is available on Google Play or App Store under TANGapp Money Transfers.
Kersch said sending money should be as easy as texting, regardless of where one lives or what they earn.