The founder of TransferWise recently told Silicon Allee that he thought his company could become bigger than Skype – and while that may still be some ways off, the London-based P2P money transfer company, for which Germany is a key market, has celebrated its third birthday by hitting the £1 billion (€1.21bn) mark.
That’s a billion pounds in money transferred across national borders for less than traditional banks charge, with usage increasing eight-fold since PayPal founder Peter Thiel invested in TransferWise.
The company, which has added currencies like the Chinese Yuan, Indian Rupee, Turkish Lira and South African Rand in recent times, claims to have saved its customers more than €50m in bank fees.
Taavet Hinrikus, who was the first employee at Skype, said: “Hitting £1bn transferred is a huge vote of confidence in what TransferWise is doing. It shows that people won’t put up with opaque fees and poor service from banks any longer, and they’re embracing solutions that technology can offer. This is especially exciting in financial services where there has been so little change for so long.”
TransferWise has also launched an Android app to accompany its iOS version as it looks to nail down its market share, especially on mobile.