TransferWise hits $5bn valuation

TransferWise early investors sold some of their stakes in a $319 million secondary deal. With that, the value of the company was estimated at $5bn.

This liquidity round was led by a new investor D1 Capital Partners, and existing shareholder Lone Pine Capital. Other shareholders like Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Investments, and LocalGlobe have expanded their holdings in the company.

Read also: TransferWise is set to launch an investment feature as it lands license from FCA

With the company’s current $5 billion valuation TransferWise becomes one of Europe’s most valuable fintech unicorns with only Klarna and Revolut catching up. The new valuation also represents an increase of 43% since May 2019.

TransferWise was founded in 2010 and has been profitable since 2017. It serves about 8 million customers worldwide, processing around £4 billion in cross-border payments each month, across 2,500 currency routes and 54 currencies.

“We’ve been funded exclusively by our customers for the last few years and we didn’t need to raise external funding for the company. This secondary round provides an opportunity for new investors to come in, alongside rewarding the investors and employees who’ve helped us succeed so far.” says co-founder and current CEO Kristo Käärmann.

“We have been impressed by the extensibility of TransferWise’s platform, which now includes individuals, businesses and financial institutions among its customers,” says D1 Capital Partners’ Teddy Gleser.

Kaarmann and fellow co-founder Taavet Hinrikus both had the option to sell shares in this round, though TransferWise declined to disclose how much they sold.

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