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The Wise story

Wise was launched in 2011 with the vision of making international money transfers cheap, fair, and simple. Today, our multi-currency account helps millions of people and businesses manage their money across the world. Here’s how we got here.
Photo of Taavet and Kristo

Like many good stories, this one starts with two friends.

They’re both from Estonia. Taavet, who was the first employee at Skype, lived in London but got paid in euros. Kristo worked for Deloitte, also lived in London, and got paid in pounds. But he had a mortgage in euros back in Estonia.

They both moved their money with their banks — which had expensive fees and bad exchange rates. They knew there had to be a better way. So they put their heads together and invented a beautifully simple workaround.

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Our mission

We're building money without borders — making it move faster, more conveniently, and eventually for free. Powering money for people and businesses: to pay, to get paid, to spend, in any currency, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing. It's not empty words. Our teams are dedicated to making each part of it a reality.

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A better way to move money across borders

Each month, they looked up the mid-market exchange rate. Taavet put his euros into Kristo’s Estonian bank account, and Kristo topped up Taavet’s UK account with his pounds. Both got the currency they needed almost instantly, and neither paid an extra cent on bad exchange rates or unreasonable charges.

There was no waiting, no stress, and no extra cost. ‘There must be others like us…’ they thought. So they started a company, called it TransferWise, and hired a team to build the best way to send money between countries.

As we grew, we realised that people needed more than just money transfers. So we added a multi-currency account, a debit card, and a business account, and changed our name to Wise.

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Image of the new Wise card

Wise today

Our name may have changed but the heart of what we do is always the same: helping people manage their money internationally more cheaply, quickly, and transparently.

Millions of people and businesses trust us to move their money, saving them bank fees and time. With the Wise account, they hold balances in over 50 currencies, and use our debit card to shop and spend while abroad.

We’ve partnered with banks and companies like Monzo, Bolt, and GoCardless, to bring their customers better international banking. And people like Richard Branson, and PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, among others, have invested in our vision.

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Image of Wise on a dekstop, mobile and the Wise card
Three things we believe about sending money

It should be low-cost and fair

1

The real exchange rate is the only fair one — and that's the one you get with Wise. And we show all our fees upfront. Why? Because markups and hidden fees are unfair, and finance has been unfair for too long.

It should be easy

2

Sending money should be stress-free – no matter how far it’s traveling. Our app and website are designed for you to manage your money on the go. And we’ve built a team that’s dedicated to keeping your money safe, and the process watertight.

It should be fast

3

We believe that sending money should be as fast as sending an email. It takes a few minutes to set up your account, and most of our transfers go through instantly or on the same day.

See how our customers use us

Read some of the stories of how Wise helps people manage their money in our Lives Without Borders series.

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Inside the rise of the $5 billion money-transfer fintech Wise, which has been profitable for years and is exploring an IPO.

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TransferWise: the UK fintech grows up. Rapid expansion of money transfer group has fuelled competition from bigger rivals.

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Google has teamed up money transfer firm Wise to let U.S. users send money to India and Singapore.

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