Three-year CAGR of 33.4% outpaces Flywire’s 27.1%, but a 4.8% EBITDA margin trails by over 11 percentage points.
By Wei Chen·April 2, 2026·4 min readOrionmano Industries
Three-year CAGR of 33.4% outpaces Flywire’s 27.1%, but a 4.8% EBITDA margin trails by over 11 percentage points.
Remitly Global has delivered a three-year revenue compound annual growth rate of 33.4%—6.3 percentage points above Flywire’s 27.1%—yet its trailing twelve-month EBITDA margin of 4.8% lags Flywire by 11.2 percentage points. This stark divergence encapsulates the central strategic challenge facing the Seattle-based digital remittance company: sustaining industry-leading growth while compressing the profitability gap to competitive levels.
Remitly’s historical growth rate positions it as the fastest-growing player among publicly-listed payments peers. Over the last three years, the company grew revenue at a 33.4% CAGR (33.8% per StockStory), exceeding Flywire’s 27.1% CAGR and outpacing the broader consumer internet sector. In the first quarter of 2025, Remitly reported revenue of $361.6 million, up 34% year-over-year, accelerating from the 25.2% growth rate recorded in the prior quarter.
Customer acquisition remains the primary growth engine. Active customers have grown at an average annual rate of 28.4%, according to StockStory, reflecting Remitly’s expanding share of the global remittance total addressable market—a market where the company still holds less than 4% penetration, per analyst estimates. For fiscal year 2025, management guided total revenue between $1.574 billion and $1.587 billion, representing 25-26% year-over-year growth. Looking ahead to fiscal 2026, Remitly issued a preliminary outlook for high-teens growth, implying roughly $1.9 billion at the midpoint of consensus expectations.
EBITDA Margin Gap: The Cost of Hypergrowth
While Remitly’s revenue trajectory is enviable, its profitability metrics tell a different story. The company’s trailing twelve-month EBITDA margin stands at 4.8%, compared to an estimated 16.0% for Flywire—an 11.2 percentage point gap that underscores the tradeoffs inherent in Remitly’s growth-at-scale strategy.
The gap, however, is narrowing. In the first quarter of 2025, Remitly posted adjusted EBITDA of $58.4 million, a 157% year-over-year increase, translating to a 16% adjusted EBITDA margin—up sharply from approximately 10% in the year-ago period. The improvement reflects disciplined cost management even as the company continues to invest in product development and geographic expansion. Management has signaled improving cost control: during fiscal 2024, Remitly raised its full-year guidance three times, each revision embedding higher profitability expectations.
Exhibit
Revenue CAGR and EBITDA Margin: Remitly vs. Flywire
3-year CAGR EBITDA margin comparison
Percentage (%)Source: Orionmano Industries
Strategic Shift: From Growth-at-All-Costs to Profitable Growth
Underpinning Remitly’s improving margin profile is a deliberate pivot in corporate strategy. At the company’s 2025 Investor Day, CFO Vikas Mehta emphasized “rigorous operating discipline” as a guiding principle, outlining medium-term 2028 financial targets: revenue of $2.6-3.0 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $575-600 million, implying a 20-22% adjusted EBITDA margin.
The centerpiece of this framework is the Rule of 40—the principle that the sum of a company’s revenue growth rate and EBITDA margin should exceed 40%. Remitly has formally adopted this metric, targeting a combined 3-year CAGR and adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 40% by 2028. Based on current trajectories, achieving that threshold would require both sustained mid-20s growth and continued margin expansion of roughly 15 percentage points from current levels.
Momentum is building. In Q1 2025, Remitly reported its first GAAP-profitable quarter, with net income of $11.4 million versus a net loss of $21.1 million in Q1 2024. The milestone supports the thesis that the company’s digital platform—with gross margins of approximately 59%—carries inherent operating leverage. Analyst sentiment remains strong: 88% of analysts recommend Buy, with 13% assigning Strong Buy, per consensus data from Q1 2026.
The investment case for Remitly hinges on execution against the Rule of 40 framework. If the company sustains 30%+ revenue growth while compressing the EBITDA margin gap—approaching peer-level profitability—the stock could re-rate meaningfully. However, the implied deceleration to high-teens growth in fiscal 2026, per preliminary guidance, introduces a different calculus. Slower top-line expansion places greater weight on margin delivery; any miss on profitability in a lower-growth environment would pressure the valuation. The next 12–18 months will test whether Remitly can balance the equation that has so far defined its competitive position.
