Wise
Wise (formerly TransferWise) is a British financial technology company founded in 2011. It provides multi-currency accounts and international transfers at mid-market rates, and is widely treated as a neobank-adjacent account provider even though it is primarily an e-money / payments firm.1
History
Founded by Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Käärmann, TransferWise rebranded to Wise and listed in London. Local account details in multiple currencies became a core growth product beyond simple remittances.
Founders
Kristo Käärmann is co-founder and chief executive officer of Wise (formerly TransferWise). An Estonian entrepreneur previously at Deloitte, Käärmann co-founded the company in London in 2011 after personally experiencing expensive bank FX markups when paying a mortgage abroad. He has led Wise as it pioneered mid-market rate transfers, multi-currency accounts and a public listing, becoming a reference brand for transparent cross-border finance.
Taavet Hinrikus is co-founder of Wise and served as the company's first employee/executive chairman in early years. Also Estonian—and Skype's early employee number one—Hinrikus partnered with Käärmann on the peer-matching transfer model that undercut traditional banks and helped define the modern multi-currency account category overlapping with business neobanks.
Reception
Wise (formerly TransferWise) popularised transparent mid-market FX and multi-currency accounts for people and businesses. It is a frequent comparison point for Airwallex and business neobanks that compete on cross-border pricing.
Products
Wise Account with local account details, debit cards, business accounts, batch payouts and the Wise Platform API for banks and enterprises embedding cross-border payments.
External links
References
- Wise plc is a publicly listed cross-border payments and multi-currency account provider.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Wise?
- Wise is a British fintech offering multi-currency accounts and low-cost international transfers.
- When was Wise founded?
- Wise was founded in 2011.
- Where is Wise headquartered?
- Wise is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
- Who founded Wise?
- Wise was founded by [Kristo Käärmann](/kristo-kaarmann), Taavet Hinrikus.
- What type of company is Wise?
- Wise is described as Multi-currency account / EMI in its neobank.wiki profile.
- What is the official Wise website?
- The official website for Wise is https://wise.com/.
See also
- Accrue - Accrue is a Ghana- and Nigeria-rooted fintech that moves money across Africa and the US using a stablecoin agent network.
- Airwallex - Airwallex is an Australian-founded business fintech for global accounts, payments and spend management.
- Alex Johnson - Alex Johnson is the founder of Fintech Takes, a widely read fintech newsletter and podcast; he is active on X as @AlexH_Johnson.
- Alexandre Prot - Alexandre Prot is co-founder and CEO of Qonto, the Paris-based European business neobank.
- Ali Niknam - Ali Niknam is founder and CEO of Bunq, the Amsterdam-based licensed Dutch neobank.