---
title: "Estonian-founded TransferWise is now the most valuable fintech startup in Europe"
id: "39914"
type: "post"
slug: "estonian-founded-transferwise-is-now-the-most-valuable-fintech-startup-in-europe"
published_at: "2019-05-23T02:08:32+00:00"
modified_at: "2019-05-23T02:10:54+00:00"
url: "https://estonianworld.com/business/estonian-founded-transferwise-is-now-the-most-valuable-fintech-startup-in-europe/"
markdown_url: "https://estonianworld.com/business/estonian-founded-transferwise-is-now-the-most-valuable-fintech-startup-in-europe.md"
excerpt: "The Estonian-founded money transfer startup, TransferWise, is now the most valuable fintech startup in Europe after a new investment round that values the company at […]"
taxonomy_category:
  - "Business"
taxonomy_post_tag:
  - "Estonian startups"
  - "Europe"
  - "fintech"
  - "Transferwise"
taxonomy_post_format:
  - ""
publisher: "Estonian World"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Sten Hankewitz"
author_url: "https://estonianworld.com/author/stenhankewitz/"
---

# Estonian-founded TransferWise is now the most valuable fintech startup in Europe

![Image](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Kristo-K%C3%A4%C3%A4rmann-and-Taavet-Hinrikus-1024x684.jpg)

The founders of Wise, Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus. Wise is the largest employer in the Estonian startup sector. Photo by Wise.

By  [Sten Hankewitz](https://estonianworld.com/author/stenhankewitz/)
  ·  May 23, 2019  · [Business](https://estonianworld.com/category/business/)
 · 2 minutes of reading

### The Estonian-founded money transfer startup, TransferWise, is now the most valuable fintech startup in Europe after a new investment round that values the company at USD3.5 billion.

The Estonian-founded, London-based company, raised USD292 in a round of funding, giving it a valuation of 3.5 billion US dollars. To date, the company has raised USD689 million in venture funding.

The USD3.5 billion valuation is more than double the company achieved in late 2017 at the time of its USD280 million Series E round.

The new secondly funding – with no new cash entering TransferWise’s balance sheet as a number of existing shareholders sell all or a portion of their holding – was led by growth capital investors Lead Edge Capital, Lone Pine Capital and Vitruvian Partners.

Existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Baillie Gifford expanded their holdings in TransferWise, while investment was also provided from funds managed by BlackRock.

### Earning a profit

According to the media, the company earned a net profit of USD7.9 million in the fiscal year ending in March 2018 and its annual revenue almost doubled to USD148 million. According to the company, it is signing up 10,000 new business customers a month and now has five million total customers, processing over USD5 billion in monthly transactions.

TransferWise was founded by Estonians Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Käärmann in 2011, and it’s based in London, the UK. It currently has more than 1,600 employees worldwide.

I

Cover: Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus, the founders of TransferWise.

## About The Author

![Avatar photo](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/local-avatars/15/1707599474-bpfull-100x100.jpg)

[Sten Hankewitz](https://estonianworld.com/author/stenhankewitz/)
Sten Hankewitz is a lifelong journalist and the Executive Editor at Estonian World. Having lived in Estonia, Spain, the UK and all around the US, he now resides in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He loves to write and besides working at Estonian World, he [writes books](https://estonianworld.com/culture/the-grand-illusion-estonian-worlds-sten-hankewitz-publishes-a-novel-about-growing-up-in-the-soviet-union/)
 and contributes to other outlets. He has strong convictions and shows them unashamedly. You can follow Sten on [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@stenhankewitz)
, [X](https://twitter.com/stenhankewitz)
 and [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/shankewitz/)
. You can also [email him](mailto:sten@estonianworld.com)
.