Tim Draper hosts a panel at Leap in Riyadh with Rémy from Sorbet and other founders about blockchain payments for MENA freelancers. Sorbet uses stablecoins to compete with Wise and Revolut in markets like Egypt and Morocco, where traditional remittance costs eat into earnings.
Chapters
Hello, my name is Rémy. I'm the co-founder and CEO at Sorbet, and we're simplifying payment collection globally and business operations for independents in emerging markets. Sorbet, when you think about it, it's actually a word that started in the Middle East and is now used by kind of people in the US or in France, like we say sorbet. They're all very colorful, a lot of taste. And yeah, I think that's kind of what pushed us to go forward with the word Sorbet. Studied computer science in Montreal, then started my career in a consulting firm within their AI and machine learning team, but always had a very strong interest for Web3 and blockchain technology, which kind of pushed me to quit my job back in 2021 and kind of dive into the whole Web3 space. Right after university, I kind of opened a venture in Montreal. It was a short-lived venture. I opened a cafe and also the whole purpose of that cafe was to kind of promote blockchain and also alts. I remember I was going to this place in Montreal called the Cafe Campus, and we would go every Thursday there with some friends and on the way there was like this one shop which was like a Bitcoin shop, and that was quite early. And I remember passing by it a couple of times and seeing these like mining rigs, which was quite interesting. And it was my light bulb moment. And yeah, seeing that how other people could kind of make money from this new technology and being like an early adopter is always an interesting space to be in. My mom, she likes that stability and that security of like having a stable job. But I think my father, I mean, they both support me, but my father more specifically, specifically because I think even him younger, he had like this dream of kind of being an entrepreneur but never really had the chance to do it. And we were both in the Web3 space since 2016, so he understands this space, understands the benefits, and sees the value. And I guess he's kind of living that dream through me at the moment. I'm lucky enough to have a dad that understands it and understands the benefits. So like, I'm not explaining like this alien thing with like crypto and So like he understands, he sees the value of it. And I think I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. So yeah, I think he would be quite proud of what's happening now.
Cool.
Yeah, yeah.
We're currently in the startup exhibition at Leap. Today, Saudi Arabia is a very authentic place and very exotic, I think, place to visit for a lot of people. You have the nature, the desert, which is not so far, one of my favorite places to visit when I'm in Riyadh. I've been attending Leap for the past 2 years. I remember coming here 2 years ago and spending most of my time at the startup and the investor stages, just learning about all the different opportunities. Having grew up and lived here in Saudi Arabia, there has been a huge change in the past few years. A lot of progress being done, whether it be within the startup ecosystem or technology. Yeah, it's just a great place to be today. A year ago, it was almost impossible for me to step on a stage and present in front of so many people. But I think the past year I've been practicing quite a bit and way more comfortable I am today than back then. I'm the co-founder and CEO at Solbay, and we're building a future where location no longer limits potential. So I'm from the MENA region and grew up here in Riyadh. I've been a freelancer and worked with many. Recently, while setting up my company in Saudi, I needed to pay for a service. The provider sent me an invoice with his local banking details, but due to incompatible and outdated payment rails, it was impossible for me to transfer money from my Canadian bank account or even my Wise wallet. This isn't just my problem. Millions of freelancers across the MENA region still struggle with global payment collection. And despite a rise in cross-border work, this issue has yet to be resolved in the MENA region. And Sorbet is here to change that since it's a better rail using stablecoin and blockchain to on-ramp from clients in the US and in Europe and to off-ramp in kind of the local banks. Right. And we're really targeting freelancers and we enable them through virtual wallets to collect payments from top payroll platforms, marketplaces, but also through traditional payment rails. We convert that Fiat into USDC in the freelancer's Sorbet wallet. They can then spend it through a Sorbet debit card, send it to any global bank, and manage their business with a suite of.
I feel like once you get the freelancer, you can keep selling them more things. So do you have any ideas for what else you would sell them?
So today we're solving payments, but then we want to really solve everything around managing a business as a freelancer.
Essentially, when Salla and Zed, for example, they deal with all of these you know micro kind of businesses, freelancers. freelancers, and they provide all the services that you talked about, you know, all the way until the payment as well. So how would you actually position yourself among something like that in Saudi?
The future of finance is going to be on-chain. There's going to be disruptors and disrupted, and we kind of allow them. And you kind of see a lot of payroll platforms and a lot of freelancers starting to receive USDC as a form of payment. A lot of fintechs here don't offer that option, and we kind of allow them to receive both stablecoins if clients are comfortable with that, but also fiat essentially.
What these ingenious idea that you have come up with that many fintechs around the world have not yet understood.
I would have loved to tell him more about the feedback that we're getting from our users, and I think maybe he would understand a bit more how this solution is much needed in this region. We're targeting the markets that Wise and Revolut don't operate in, and these are underserved markets such as Egypt again, Morocco, and a lot of countries in the MENA region. So essentially—
So over time, do you get marginalized?
Yeah, so that's why there's going to be a race to the bottom in terms of fee, and that's why we kind of are talking with freelancers and are building a set of tools.
Terrific. Well, Rami, thank you so much for being on Meet the Drapers.
Nice meeting you.
Pleasure having you.
Nice to see you. Thank you very much.
So, Tavi, what'd you think of Rami?
There is a lot of fintech companies that are solving similar problems. Of course, there is possibility, but it's damn difficult competition and it all comes down to execution. So it's very, very hard. There will be many players doing similar things.
For me, I actually do see the opportunity because I know that in Morocco in particular and some markets, it is a huge, huge problem. And I do believe if he is able to reach— so first of all, penetrate the market, right, and get that going, at least Master the very first offering and then start the build-up. There could be a huge opportunity.
And since since Bitcoin is prevalent everywhere, and and it will continue to be as people realize that you know fiat is clunky relative to Bitcoin. So anyway, you're going after something great. So.
