TransferWise Seeks To Raise Up To $300M

Cross-border money transfer startup TransferWise is looking to raise funds and will sell a stake in itself to do so, according to a report by Reuters.

The company’s past investors include English business magnate Richard Branson and PayPal founders Peter Thiel and Max Levchin.

FinTech companies that offer new technology to help move cash and funds across borders are becoming increasingly popular and disruptive to traditional banking institutions. They’re also often more affordable.

The company wants to raise $300 million, a source told Reuters, which would bring its valuation to $4 billion. Goldman Sachs Group is reportedly handling the fundraising round. Goldman Sachs Group did not respond to a request for a comment by Reuters. 

TransferWise was started in 2011 by two Estonians: Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Kaarmann. It has upwards of 4 million customers and handles transfer volume of over $4 billion a month. The company also has 1,400 employees and 11 offices all over the world.

The last time TransferWise had a fundraising round was 2017, when it had a valuation of $1.6 billion. Investors in that round included Old Mutual Global Investors and IVP, a venture capital firm.

TransferWise showed an operating profit of 9.5 million pounds on 117 million pounds in revenue. The company plans to open a Belgium office to avoid any potential financial consequences from Brexit.

TransferWise also now formally allows payments via PayNow after experimenting with the service, The Business Times reported. Through TransferWise, users can scan a quick-response (QR) code or enter a unique entity number of a company.

As it stands, the cross-border FinTech allows payments such as bank transfers, debit cards and credit cards. TransferWise Lead Product Engineer Timothee Ledure said, according to the report, “When our customers told us they like PayNow for its speed and convenience, we added the implementation of PayNow to our engineering plans and worked to launch the feature as quickly as possible.”