UK-based money transfer platform TransferWise has raised $280m in a series E round featuring diversified conglomerate Mitsui & Co that valued it at $1.6bn, TechCrunch reported today.
Asset management firm Old Mutual Global Investors and venture capital firm Institutional Venture Partners co-led the round, which included Sapphire Ventures, World Innovation Lab, Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford and entrepreneur Richard Branson.
TransferWise operates an online platform that enables businesses to make cross-border financial transfers quickly at an affordable rate.
The funding consisted of primary and secondary investments, allowing early employees including co-founders Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Kaarmann to divest part of their shareholding, Sky News had reported last month.
CEO Hinrikus told TechCrunch that TransferWise will use the capital to strengthen the borderless account feature it launched in May 2017, and to expand globally, with the Asia Pacific region a particular focus.
TransferWise also intends to launch a consumer-focused service in the UK and Europe in January next year that will include a dedicated debit card. The company has now raised $397m altogether, according to TechCrunch.
Baillie Gifford led the company’s last round in October 2016, in which it raised $26m at a $1.1bn valuation from a consortium that included undisclosed existing investors.
TransferWise’s earlier backers include conglomerate Virgin, Index Ventures, Kima Ventures, IA Ventures, Valar Ventures and Seedcamp, which backed the company at seed stage but which just sold seed and series A investments including TransferWise to venture capital firm Draper Esprit.