Wise This story is available exclusively to Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.
Wise, one of Europe s earliest and most successful fintech firms, is exploring an IPO in 2021.
The firm, formerly TransferWise, started with cheap money transfers and is now worth $5 billion.
Insider spoke with the company s CEO, CFO, early investors, and analysts to chart its rise.
Wise, the $5 billion fintech success story, started life as TransferWise in London in 2011.
The premise was simple: Major banks made a killing in fees and foreign-exchange rates when people transferred money from one currency to another, and this startup wanted to change that.