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London-based remittance provider raised the amount to expand into new markets including Brazil, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand.
The round was led by Baillie Gifford, and values the company at $1.1b, the latest fintech company to enter the rank of unicorns.
A previous $58 million investment was led by U.S. venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz in January 2015. Other investors in the money transfer firm include Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson. The company, which gained notoriety in Britain with a series of provocative advertisements attacking banks for ripping off customers on poor exchange rates and extortionate international wire-transfer fees, promises customers they can move money internationally at the mid-market exchange rate for a low commission -- usually less than 1 percent of the transaction value. TransferWise claims that on average a customer can move money for eight times less than what the average bank charges for the same transaction.
