The Estonian-founded, London-based peer-to-peer currency transfer firm TransferWise announced that £1 billion (or €1.21 billion) have been transferred via its service.
TransferWise growth has been impressive – just less than a year ago, it reached a milestone of £125 million. The development of the company was greatly accelerated after receiving an investment of $6 million from Valar Ventures, an investment company led by Peter Thiel – the founder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook.
In addition to expats who send money between their respective countries, the company has also targeted businesses. Starting with the pound and the euro, the company has gradually also added US and Canadian dollars, Japanese yens, Chinese renminbi, Indian rupees, Turkish liras and South African rands, among others, to their transferable currencies.
In addition, the Financial Times has reported that Facebook is in a process of introducing financial services, allowing its users to store money on Facebook and use it to pay and exchange money with others. According to FT, Facebook is in partnership talks with three London startups offering international money transfer services online and via mobile – and one of them is TransferWise, prompting some in the business community to speculate that the Estonian-founded startup could be Facebook’s next big acquisition.
I
Cover photo: TransferWise creating a buzz in London with their ads, targeting the established banks.
