International Payments Firm TransferWise Reports Doubling Revenue

(Bloomberg) -- TransferWise Ltd., the London-based international payments firm and one of Europe’s largest financial technology startups, said revenue in the fiscal year through March 2017 has more than doubled, allowing the company to post its first annual profit.

It made an adjusted operating profit of two million pounds ($2.6 million) it said. The company previously said it broke even during the period but had not disclosed the specific figures.  

“We’ve shown that you can be a sustainable company while charging the least amount possible and passing on the savings gained from innovation to end users,” Taavet Hinrikus, TransferWise co-founder and chairman, said in a statement.

Founded in 2010,  the London-based startup aims to help people move money across borders without expensive wire transfers. It now has 2 million users, but is facing increasing competition from other startups, as well as established rivals like Western Union Co., and all are racing to cut fees to lure new clients.

TransferWise said revenue more than doubled to 67 million pounds, up from 28 million pounds in 2016. It said that its current revenue run rate put the company on course to generate 120 million pounds in revenue this year.

It said it was making this amount on currency transfers that total 1.5 billion pounds each month.

The company said it narrowed its operating losses to 56,000 pounds in the 2017 fiscal year, down from 17 million pounds in 2016. Adjusting for interest, depreciation, amortization and taxes, the company earned two million pounds, it said, and “overall profit” was 7.4 million pounds. The company said the difference was due to a one-time, non-cash deferred tax asset.

The company’s full accounts were not available from U.K. business registry Companies House at the time this story was published.

TransferWise has raised almost $400 million in venture capital to date. Earlier this month, it announced a $280 million financing round lead by U.S. asset manager Old Mutual Global Investors and Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm IVP. Bloomberg earlier reported that the investment valued the company at $1.6 billion.

The company said it now employs 800 people in nine offices around the world, and that the Asia Pacific region, where it recently opened a new hub office in Singapore, was poised to become its most important geography in the next 12 months. 

To contact the author of this story: Jeremy Kahn in London at jkahn21@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nate Lanxon at nlanxon@bloomberg.net, Molly Schuetz

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