top of page
The British fintech company formerly known as TransferWise went public on the London Stock Exchange Wednesday, in a direct listing valuing the company at $11 billion.
Wise was founded in 2010 by Estonian friends Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus. Frustrated with opaque bank charges on international money transfers, they figured out a new way to make cross-border transactions at the real exchange rate.
The pair would informally transfer money between one another, by looking at the mid-market rate of a certain day each month. They say this allowed them to achieve a fair exchange rate without paying additional bank charges.
bottom of page