Transferwise rebrands to Wise ahead of London listing
A decade after its launch Transferwise has rebranded to Wise ahead of its long-awaited IPO.
The fintech, which was most recently valued by private investors at $5bn, has come a long way since its launch in 2011 when it initially offered money transfers. It says the new moniker reflects its growth.
“Today our name catches up with who we’re already building for – a community of people and businesses with multi-currency lives. That community now even includes the banks themselves,” chief executive and co-founder Kristo Kaarmann said.
“We’ve evolved to fix more than just money transfer, but the core experience of using Wise will remain faster, cheaper, and more convenient than anything else.”
The new name will reflect the recently launched consumer and business products, akin to a challenger bank, despite Wise still processing £4.5bn cross-border transactions every month.
Last year the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) granted Wise permission to offer savings and investments product which are expected to launch later this year.
Name changes for such established startups do not happen on a whim but Wise’s widely anticipated public listing may have something to do with it.
The company is expected to list in London later this year and has already picked Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as joint co-ordinators, according to Sky News.
Wise has become a target of the Treasury’s London listings review, due to be published soon, having held talks with the Prime Minister alongside Deliveroo and Revolut before Christmas.
Customers can opt into the Wise’s new website with the final switchover for all customers to take place in March 2021.