The mobile remittance firm Remitly has closed a $5.5 million Series A funding round, which was led by financial technology venture capital group QED Investors. Seattle-based Remitly, which was formerly known as BeamIt Mobile, enables U.S. residents to send money to relatives in the Philippines.

Most of Remitly's existing investors, which include Trilogy Partnership, Founders Co-Op, TomorrowVentures, and Bezos Expeditions, participated in the latest funding round. Remitly was founded in 2011 by its CEO Matt Oppenheimer.

According to TechGeek, the new funding round brings the total amount raised so far by Remitly to $10 million. In January 2013, Remitly raised $2.6 million in a funding round led by Trilogy Partnership.

Remitly offers free three-day mobile fund transfers to the Philippines and charges $4.19 to $4.99 for express transfers, which take a few minutes to complete.

TechCrunch reported that Remitly plans to use the new funds to accelerate its global growth and to hire additional staff.

Learn more about money transfer/P2P.