Venture capital-backed money transfer business TransferWise has hit a $3.5bn valuation through a new $292m secondary investment round.
Virtuvian Partners, Lead Edge Capital and Lone Pine Capital led the round, which more than doubled the company’s valuation compared to its $280m Series E round from the end of 2017.
Existing TransferWise backers Andreessen Horowitz and Baillie Gifford both increased their holdings through the secondary sale, which largely saw Transferwise employees exit their stakes according to TechCrunch, which spoke to company co-founder and chairman Taavet Hinrikus.
Transferwise, founded in 2011, matches currency buyers and sellers directly via its website, bypassing banks charging higher fees.
The company has grown to process about £4bn of transactions each month, and posted revenue of £117m for the last financial year and net profit of £6.2m.
Last summer Transferwise marked its first integration with a major bank by forming a partnership with France’s Groupe BPCE.
