> This is the Estonian-origin profile for Wise. The primary company page covering governance, the LSE direct listing, and current plc structure lives on the London city page (/london/wise). This entry documents Wise's Estonian roots and its ongoing Tallinn operations.
Wise was founded in 2011 as TransferWise by two Estonians - Kristo Kaarmann and Taavet Hinrikus - who met while Hinrikus was the first Skype employee and Kaarmann was a Deloitte consultant. They built the first peer-to-peer currency exchange specifically to kill the hidden FX spread banks charged on international transfers. The original operating entity was TransferWise OU, registered in Tallinn.
The business rebranded to Wise in 2021 and direct-listed on the London Stock Exchange the same year at a GBP 8.75B valuation - the largest-ever direct listing on the LSE. Post-IPO, the group parent is Wise plc, registered at Companies House in London. The Estonian operating entity continues to employ several hundred engineers in Tallinn, and Estonia remains Wise's second-largest engineering site after London.
Wise now moves roughly GBP 30B in cross-border volume per quarter across 160 countries and 40+ currencies, with a licensed entity in every major market.
Wise is the cleanest example in Europe of an Estonia-founded, UK-listed scaleup. It is the reference architecture for any Estonian founder who plans a London IPO. The flip happened in stages, and each stage teaches a specific lesson.
Stage 1 (2011-2013): Estonian OU only. TransferWise OU was the sole operating entity. Seed capital came from Seedcamp, IA Ventures and Index. At this stage the company was still small enough that UK/US investors accepted Estonian preferred equity because the amounts were small and the governance was simple.
Stage 2 (2014-2015): Delaware flip. When the Series B came from Peter Thiel's Valar and a16z, the investors required a Delaware C-Corp parent. TransferWise Inc. (Delaware) was incorporated and became the ultimate parent; TransferWise OU (Estonia) and TransferWise Ltd (UK) sat beneath it. This is the standard Series B flip every Estonian scaleup eventually does.
Stage 3 (2016-2019): UK holdco pivot. As the UK FCA-regulated entity became the licensing anchor for EU passporting and the company scaled its UK sales and compliance teams, the group reorganised so that a UK holdco (TransferWise Ltd) sat above the Delaware C-Corp. This de-risked the eventual IPO venue and aligned with the founders' intention to list in London.
Wise plc's ultimate parent is UK-registered and LSE-listed. However, the company was founded in Estonia, the Estonian operating entity (Wise OU, formerly TransferWise OU) still employs hundreds of engineers in Tallinn, and both founders are Estonian nationals.
Wise did not leave Estonia operationally. The ultimate parent was flipped to the UK for the LSE listing in 2021, but the Tallinn engineering office remains one of the largest and engineering IP is still developed there.
Kristo Kaarmann (CEO) and Taavet Hinrikus (now a venture investor at Plural) co-founded the company as TransferWise in 2011.
On the London city page for Wise, the plc profile at /london/wise covers LSE governance, financials, and current plc structure. This page documents the Estonian origin and Tallinn operations.
