TransferWise has confirmed a secondary share sale raking in $319 million and valuing the money transfer unicorn at $5 billion.
New investors D1 Capital Partners and existing shareholder Lone Pine Capital led the round with Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Investments and LocalGlobe expanding their holdings.
The deal sees TransferWise - which stresses that it is profitable, cash generating and not raising any primary capital - increase its value by more than 40% on a May 2019 raise.
Pitched as a cheap alternative to costly bank currency transfer fees, TransferWise serves around eight million customers, processing £4 billion in cross-border payments alone every month.
The unicorn has been steadily adding new products and services: its borderless account holds over £2 billion in current deposit, while one million debit cards have been issued by the firm since 2018. Recently it secured approval from the FCA to offer investment services to customers of its borderless bank account.
Kristo Käärmann, CEO, TransferWise, says: "We’ve been funded exclusively by our customers for the last few years and we didn’t need to raise external funding for the company. This secondary round provides an opportunity for new investors to come in, alongside rewarding the investors and employees who’ve helped us succeed so far."