The Estonian-founded, London-based, money transfer startup, TransferWise, has launched its service in the US and opens an office in New York City.
Joe Cross, one of the company’s early employees, will lead the New York office as General Manager. He will be building a team from the new hub in New York’s Soho West. Cross previously worked as the company’s head of marketing. Prior to this, he was head of strategy and brand at shopping and travel site Kelkoo.
The launch follows a recent US$58 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, the VC firm founded by Netscape and Opsware founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. TransferWise pledged to use this investment to expand globally, and its US launch represents the start of its ambitious international rollout.
In the coming months, TransferWise plans to open offices in Germany and Australia and launch another 300 currency routes later in the next year.
TransferWise was founded in London by Estonians Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus in early 2011, making transfers between just the British pound and euro. It now has 250 members of staff, 292 currency routes and continues to grow between 15-20 percent a month.
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Cover: TransferWise founders Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus.
Is it an Estonian company? The article just says the founders are Estonian.
TechCrunch wrote an article that is much clearer and more balanced. The company is based in London:
http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/17/crossing-the-money-pond/
The article clearly says “Estonian-founded”, not “Estonian company”. It was set up by Estonians, but is based in London.
Looks like they have since corrected the article and noted it is London-based. Why are corrections to the original not noted at the bottom, like on most news sites?
Signup by clicking on the link, and get one free transaction unto $4500.
https://transferwise.com/u/c98364