British fintech giant Wise is set to move its primary listing from the UK to the US in a bid to attract more investors and increase its valuation, dealing a blow to the London Stock Exchange.
The company was one of an early generation of standout European tech success stories, listing in London in 2021 after raising nearly $400m from private investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Index Ventures.
The move would help to accelerate Wise’s growth in the US, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
“We believe a primary US listing would significantly enhance our profile among potential customers — the US is home to over 4,000 banks, including several of the world’s largest,” the company said.
“The US is the world’s largest economy and the biggest market opportunity in the world for our products today.”
Founded in 2011 as TransferWise by Kristo Käärmann, who remains as CEO, and now angel and VC investor Taavet Hinrikus, the company initially made a name for itself offering cheaper international payments than mainstream banks.
It’s since launched products including an international currency account, business account and a platform for fintechs to use Wise infrastructure for their own cross-border payments.
The company’s London listing was seen as a big win for the London Stock Exchange (LSE) — which has looked increasingly beleaguered in recent years. In 2024 the market had its worst year for departures since the financial crash.
Wise said it plans to maintain a secondary listing in London, allowing shares to be traded on both sides of the Atlantic.
“Our confidence in UK talent and the tech ecosystem here remains undimmed,” the company said. “One-fifth of our employees are based in the UK and we plan to continue hiring and investing in our UK team to fuel our growth in the UK and abroad.”
The fintech will call a shareholder meeting in the coming weeks to vote on the proposal, the results of which are expected to be published towards the end of June.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/fintech-wise-to-list-in-us/
