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Wise Group plc

Cross-Border PaymentsFounded 2011
Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya
Company data updated: October 2026

Founders

Who Founded Wise?

Kristo Käärmann, Taavet Hinrikus · Founded 2011 · HQ today: London, United Kingdom

Who founded Wise?

Wise was founded by Kristo Käärmann, Taavet Hinrikus in 2011 in London, United Kingdom. It is now led by Kristo Käärmann.

Founders
Kristo Käärmann, Taavet Hinrikus
Founded
2011
Headquarters
London, United Kingdom
Number of founders
2
Current CEO
Kristo Käärmann (since 2017)
Where was Wise founded?
Wise was founded in London, United Kingdom in 2011. wikidata.org
When was Wise founded?
Wise was founded in 2011.
Who started Wise?
Wise was founded by Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus.
How old is Wise?
Wise is 15 years old as of 2026.

Founding Story

Wise (formerly TransferWise) was founded in 2011 by two Estonian friends, Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Käärmann, working in London. They were both deeply furious at the massive, hidden fees banks charged to move money internationally. Taavet (Skype's first employee) was paid in Euros but lived in London (needing Pounds). Kristo was paid in Pounds but had a mortgage in Euros. They realized it was absolutely stupid to cross borders; instead, they simply deposited their respective local currencies into each other's local bank accounts at the exact mid-market exchange rate. Realizing this highly elegant peer-to-peer matching system could bypass the massive, slow SWIFT banking network entirely, they built TransferWise to offer radically cheap global transfers.

Kristo Käärmann

Co-founder 2011

Background

Estonian; worked as a consultant at PwC and Deloitte in London before co-founding TransferWise.

Role at Wise Group plc

Kristo Käärmann co-founded TransferWise with Taavet Hinrikus in 2011 and has been chief executive since 2017, when Hinrikus stepped back from the CEO role. He has led the company through the 2021 rename to Wise, the July 2021 London direct listing, and the May 2026 move of its primary listing to Nasdaq. Kristo Käärmann was born in 1980.

Taavet Hinrikus

Co-founder 2011

Background

Estonian; Skype's first employee and later its director of strategy.

Role at Wise Group plc

Taavet Hinrikus co-founded TransferWise in 2011 and served as its first chief executive until 2017. He later chaired the board before stepping down from that role, and has since focused on investing in early-stage companies. Taavet Hinrikus was born in 1981.

Wise Group plc: CEO & Leadership History

Full timeline →

Kristo Käärmann

Co-founder and CEO

2017 – Present

As Co-Founder and CEO, he acts as the absolute driving operational force, maintaining the company's fanatical obsession with forcing transfer fees as close to zero as mathematically possible.

Taavet Hinrikus

Co-founder and CEO

2011 – 2017

As Co-Founder (and the absolute first employee at Skype), he provided the critical early vision and venture capital networking required to turn a simple idea into a massive global fintech giant.

Compare Wise Group plc Leadership With Competitors

Wise Group plc vs Zerodha Leadership →Overview
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Wise Group plc vs N26 Leadership →Overview

Keep researching Wise

Who Founded Wise? FAQ

Who founded Wise (formerly TransferWise)?

Wise was founded by Estonian entrepreneurs and close friends Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus in London in 2011.

What was Taavet Hinrikus' background before founding Wise?

Taavet Hinrikus was Skype's very first employee in Estonia, serving as Director of Strategy from 2002 to 2008 and playing a pivotal role in the early peer-to-peer voice-over-IP telecommunications revolution.

What was Kristo Käärmann's professional career before Wise?

Kristo Käärmann studied mathematics and computer science at the University of Tartu and worked as a financial services management consultant at PwC and Deloitte in London, advising European banks.

How did their personal currency exchange dilemma birth the company?

In 2008, Taavet lived in London but was paid in euros from Skype, while Kristo worked in London earning pounds but had an Estonian euro mortgage; after calculating that banks were taking 5% in hidden fees, they began trading money directly at the mid-market rate.

Who were the notable early angel and venture investors in TransferWise?

Early institutional backers included Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures, IA Ventures, Index Ventures, and billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, who championed the company's campaign against banking opacity.

What is the 'Estonian Mafia' in international tech?

The term refers to the tight-knit network of Estonian entrepreneurs and investors originating from Skype (including Hinrikus, Käärmann, and the founders of Bolt and Pipedrive) who built world-class European tech unicorns.

What philanthropic and angel investing ventures does Taavet Hinrikus lead now?

After stepping down from Wise executive roles, Hinrikus co-founded European venture capital firm Plural and established major philanthropic initiatives funding clean energy, education, and health innovation.

How did the founders' mission influence global payment regulations?

Their vocal consumer campaigns pushed the European Parliament and UK regulators to mandate fee transparency laws requiring financial institutions to disclose all exchange rate markups to consumers.

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Content is for informational purposes only. Not financial advice. Data sourced from SEC filings, annual reports, and public records. See our full disclaimer and methodology.