Fintech/News/ TransferWise hits $5bn valuation after secondary share sale The new valuation is up from $3.5bn last year. By Michael Stothard 29 July 2020 \Fintech Is Revolut really worth $33bn right now? By Amy O'Brien 21 March 2023 Fintech/News/ TransferWise hits $5bn valuation after secondary share sale The new valuation is up from $3.5bn last year. By Michael Stothard 29 July 2020 London-based payments startup TransferWise is now valued at $5bn following a secondary share sale in a further sign of the increased excitement about online payments startups amid the coronavirus pandemic. The fintech on Wednesday said that it had completed a $319m secondary share sale led by new investor D1 Capital Partners and existing shareholder Lone Pine Capital. Existing shareholders Baillie Gifford, Fidelity International and LocalGlobe all increased their holdings in the company. Shares were sold by employees and some existing shareholders. The $5bn valuation for the profitable fintech is a big jump from the $3.5bn valuation TransferWise achieved last year. But is it still not quite as valuable as Revolut, Checkout.com and Klarna which are all valued at $5.5bn. “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,” said cofounder and current CEO Kristo Käärmann in a statement. “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”. Founded in 2011, TransferWise has been hugely successful undercutting the fees charged by the big banks to send money abroad. TransferWise charges less than 1% on many currency transfers, compared to what the World Bank estimates is an industry average of more than 7%. There are now more than 8m people using TransferWise, moving over £4bn a month. It’s not the first time existing investors have sold shares — the company was valued at $3.5bn last year as part of a $292m secondary round. At the time, Sifted reported that there were more than 150 employees who were paper millionaires at the company. Related Articles Open banking hype escalates, as TrueLayer bags a $1bn valuation from Tiger Global By Tom Matsuda Click here to read more Checkout.com is now worth $40bn — but Europe’s investors will miss out By Isabel Woodford and Amy O'Brien Click here to read more Customer blunders and tensions at the top – behind N26’s failed UK expansion By Isabel Woodford and John Hunter Click here to read more Breakout fintechs of 2021: The ranking By Isabel Woodford Click here to read more Most Read 1 \SVB News Rescue deal: HSBC buys Silicon Valley Bank UK 2 \Venture Capital How does venture debt actually work? 3 \Fintech How new EU policies will impact ecommerce marketplaces — and how payments tech can help 4 \Deeptech ‘Basically mindblowing’ — What GPT-4 can do, according to one startup that’s had access to it 5 \Sustainability Berlin-founded Sunhero raises €10m to cash in on Spanish solar energy
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Checkout.com is now worth $40bn — but Europe’s investors will miss out By Isabel Woodford and Amy O'Brien Click here to read more
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