Who owns Wise.com
Wise.com is owned by Wise Plc, a public company whose shares trade on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker WISE.
Because Wise Plc is listed, no single person owns it outright. Its ownership is spread across several groups.
- Public shareholders: Institutional investors, individual retail investors and some Wise customers hold shares in Wise Plc.
- Founders: The business began as TransferWise, set up by Estonian entrepreneurs Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus. Käärmann is the Chief Executive Officer and keeps a significant shareholding and voting stake.
- Early investors: Venture capital firms and private backers, including Max Levchin and Richard Branson, have also held stakes in the company.
Wise's own pages give slightly different start dates: its company story says it was founded in 2011, while its leadership page says Käärmann co-founded it in 2010.
Ownership and website operation are separate matters. According to the Wise imprint page, the website is jointly run by Wise Europe SA for payments and Wise Assets Europe AS for investments.
Knowing who owns the company is often a first step for people comparing money transfer services, for example when weighing up Wise vs PayPal for international payments. Wise Plc publishes its financial reports and governance details on its investor relations site at owners.wise.com.