Transferwise picks banks ahead of blockbuster IPO
Transferwise has reportedly picked two of Wall Street’s biggest banks to lead its London listing this year.
The payments unicorn has hired Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as joint global coordinators for its IPO later this year, Sky News reported.
Transferwise secured a $5bn valuation following a secondary share sale last summer, cementing its place in the upper echelon of tech companies.
Among its shareholders is Sir Richard Branson as well as IVP, a Silicon Valley fund which has backed Twitter and Snapchat’s parent company.
Upheld as one of the UK’s most successful startups having reached unicorn status in 2015, Transferwise has long been considered a candidate for an IPO.
In September it reported its profit for the year ending March 2020 more than doubled to £21.3m, while revenue jumped 70 per cent to £302.6m.
While the figures did not take into account the impact of the pandemic, the firm said it had seen an “uplift in new customers” as digital adoption soars.
Alongside Deliveroo and Darktrace, which are also preparing to list, Transferwise reportedly held talks with the Prime Minister about its IPO ambitions before Christmas as the government gears up for an overhaul of the public listing rules.
London is preparing for a very busy year for IPOs following confirmation from Moonpig and Dr Martens this week that they will float.
Transferwise declined to comment.