Institutional investors have bought $292m of shares in TransferWise, the UK-based cross-border financial transfer service backed by conglomerate Mitsui, at a $3.5bn valuation, CNBC reported today.
Investment firm Vitruvian Partners, investment manager Lone Pine Capital, venture capital firm Lead Edge Capital and funds managed by investment manager BlackRock bought shares in TransferWise while existing backers Andreessen Horowitz and Baillie Gifford increased their stakes.
The sellers were early investors and employees, but their identities were not disclosed by the company. The valuation was more than twice the $1.6bn valuation that at which TransferWise last raised money, in a $280m series E round in late 2017.
TransferWise runs an online service that allows users to transfer funds at current exchange rates for a competitive fee. They can also set up a borderless account through the platform that enables them to receive cash from 30 countries.
The round comes after TransferWise more than doubled its revenue to approximately $163m for the fiscal year ending March 2018, while making a $7.9m net profit.
Taavet Hinriku, co-founder and chairman of TransferWise, told CNBC: “We have been a profitable company for the past two years, we have a significant amount of cash sitting on our balance sheet. The company does not need any cash.”
Asset manager Old Mutual Global Investors and VC firm IVP co-led the series E round, investing alongside Mitsui, Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Sapphire Ventures, World Innovation Lab and Richard Branson. It reportedly increased TransferWise’s total equity funding to $397m.
TransfreWise had previously raised $26m in a 2016 round led by Baillie Gifford that also featured unnamed existing investors at a $1.1bn valuation. Its earlier backers include conglomerate Virgin, Index Ventures, Kima Ventures, IA Ventures and Valar Ventures.
