Inside Wise: From 2011 to Now Into a $396 million business
Founders: Taavet Hinrikus, Kristo Käärmann
Founded Year: 2011
Investors: Valar Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Sir Richard Branson
Funding Raised: $396 million
What Is the business model of Wise?
Financial technology company for low-cost international money transfers, providing an online platform that uses local bank accounts to avoid high foreign exchange fees
How Wise got started?
Started as TransferWise by two Estonians solving their own problem of expensive cross-border bank fees—launched in 2011 advertising transparent mid-market exchange rates and low fees between British pounds and euros
what growth strategy has Wise followed?
Relied on word-of-mouth and publicity stunts about beating bank fees to acquire customers, and continuously expanded currency routes and products to grow into a fintech used by millions
what are the top products/features of Wise
Wise international transfer service, Wise Multi-Currency Account, Wise debit card, business accounts
what was the biggest challenge faced by Wise?
Navigating global financial regulations and competition from banks and fintechs while trying to maintain much lower fees; also had to rebrand from TransferWise to Wise in 2021 to reflect broader services