Largest-ever tech listing in UK history as Wise goes public on London Stock Exchange at £8B

One of the UK’s leading fintechs, Wise, formerly TransferWise, has gone public on the London Stock Exchange today. The first trades commenced shortly after 11:22 am BST under the ticker ‘WISE’. Valued at £7.95 billion on its market debut, this has been the largest-ever tech listing in London by market capitalisation.

The company currently caters to over 10 million individual and business customers, processing over £5 billion in cross-border transactions every month.

To coincide with its direct listing today, the company has also released independent research which revealed £150 billion is unknowingly spent in hidden fees on foreign currency transfers each year.

The research was unveiled by company founders Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus from the company’s Tallinn office, as part of a private listing ceremony streamed to the company’s 2,400 Wisers (employees), located in 17 offices around the world. 

The company’s decision to pursue a direct listing follows the approach taken by Spotify, Slack and Coinbase. The direct listing is the first of a technology company on the London Stock Exchange. 

In contrast to a traditional Initial Public Offering, a direct listing is a fairer, cheaper and more transparent way for the company to broaden its ownership, in support of its mission to move money around the world faster, cheaper, more conveniently and transparently.

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