UK-based cross-border wire transfer service Wise floated on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on Wednesday in a direct listing, allowing conglomerate Mitsui to sell its shares to the public.
The company’s shares closed at £8.88 a share on their first day of trading, giving it a valuation of nearly £8.8bn ($12bn). It had been seeking a valuation between $6bn and $7bn before the listing, a source familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal.
Founded in 2011 as TransferWise, Wise provides an international money transfer service through a digital platform that can be accessed through a mobile app or web-based portal. It booked $579m in revenue in the year ending March 2021, increasing 39% from the previous year.
Wise had most recently closed a $319m secondary transaction in July 2020 at a $5bn valuation that involved D1 Capital Partners, Vulcan Capital and returning investors Fidelity, Lone Pine Capital, Baillie Gifford and LocalGlobe purchasing shares.
The company’s last equity round took place in 2017, when Old Mutual Global Investors and IVP co-led a $280m series E valuing it at $1.6bn. The round was filled out by Mitsui, Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Sapphire Ventures, World Innovation Lab and Richard Branson, and brought its total funding to $397m.
Baillie Gifford led a $26m series D round the year before featuring unnamed existing backers at a reported $1.1bn valuation. Valar Ventures, IA Ventures, Index Ventures, Seedcamp and Richard Branson had backed a $58m series C round in 2015 led by Andreessen Horowitz.
Wise had secured $25m in series B funding the previous year from TAG, Kima Ventures, Valar Ventures, IA Ventures, Index Ventures and Richard Branson.
IA Ventures and Index Ventures had led the company’s $1.3m seed round in 2012 before joining Valar Ventures, SV Angel, Seedcamp, TAG and unspecified individuals for a $6m series A round the year after.
Kristo Käärmann, co-founder and chief executive of Wise, said: “Wise is used to challenging convention, and this listing is no exception. We are 10 years into building a new way to move money around the world – faster, cheaper, easier and completely transparent.
“A direct listing allows us a cheaper and more transparent way to broaden Wise’s ownership, aligned with our mission.”
