
Andreessen Horowitz leads $58m series-C for TransferWise
US-based VC Andreessen Horowitz has led a $58m series-C round for TransferWise, a London-based provider of international money transfer services.
The fresh capital will enable the fintech business to undertake an international expansion strategy, starting with the opening of offices in the US, Germany and Australia.
Existing backers including Index Ventures, IA Ventures, Richard Branson and Valar Ventures – the US-based VC backed by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel – also took part in the round.
In November last year, the Financial Times reported an investment of around $50m would value TransferWise at just under $1bn, citing two people involved in the fundraising round.
Following completion of the deal, head of marketing Joe Cross was promoted to regional manager of the business's US operations. The company also appointed Moritz Kork, co-founder of Citydeal and former international vice president of Groupon, as Cross's counterpart in Germany.
Previous funding
Index, IA, Kima and Seedcamp invested $1.3m in the first round of funding for TransferWise in April 2012.
The following year, Valar led a $6m series-B round for the company, with Index and Kima also taking part in the round.
In June 2014, Index, IA and Kima took part in a $25m round for TransferWise.
Company
Founded in 2011, TransferWise is a London-based international money transfer service. It was developed by the founders of Skype and PayPal and its technology is intended to remove fees that it says have traditionally been hidden in exchange rates.
People
Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, will take a seat on the board at TransferWise. Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Käärmann are co-founders of TransferWise. Giuseppe Zocco and Neil Rimer are co-founders and partners at Index. Roger Ehrenberg is the founder and managing partner of IA.
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