A couple of months back, European money transfer startup TransferWise hit a major milestone. Its platform had processed £1 billion of customers’ money, an eight-fold increase from the previous year. At the time, Executive Chairman and co-founder Taavet Hinrikus sounded as bullish as ever. “If I look at the world right now… money transfer is such a humongous market,” he told me during a call. “Even though we have transferred a billion pounds so far, we’re just touching the beginning of it.” yesterday, Hinrikus’ words are brought sharply into focus.
We’ve covered TransferWise quite a few times – along with one or two rivals such as CurrencyFair, the London-based financial technology startup offers a genuinely disruptive foreign exchange service that significantly undercuts the banks. Its backers apparently also continue to see great potential: having led TransferWise’s $6 million Series A round just over a year ago, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures has again participated in the firm’s $25 million Series B, alongside Index Ventures, Virgin boss Richard Branson, IA Ventures, TAG, and Le Monde owner Xavier Niel. TransferWise, run by former Skype director Taavet Hinrikus, says it will use the funds for marketing.
