London-based fintech unicorn Wise has secured £300m in funding in the form of a syndicated loan facility from UK-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Headquartered in California, the company is one of the most innovative companies and investors in the UK and Europe.
Six other banks also participated in the syndicated financing, which was led by the UK’s Silicon Valley Bank’s corporate finance team and held £100m, but details are unknown. In early 2021, Wise raised £160 million in a syndicated funding round led by Silicon Valley Bank’s UK and EMEA corporate finance teams to refinance its existing line of credit.
What Does SVB UK Do?
Working with the UK’s most innovative late-stage listed and private companies, Silicon Valley Bank UK’s corporate finance team serves as a proactive and trusted partner providing a full range of credit and banking solutions and advice to help clients succeed and quickly Scale up.
It provides commercial banking services, expertise and insight to the technology, life sciences and healthcare, private equity and venture capital industries in the UK and EMEA. Silicon Valley Bank UK’s business banking and lending services help meet the unique needs of its dynamic, fast-growing and innovative clients.
Matt Briers, Chief Financial Officer of Wise, said: “Our mission is to create a currency without borders – instant, convenient, transparent and ultimately free. The new facility, led by Silicon Valley Bank UK, will allow us to access working capital flexibly and efficiently. This means We can continue to provide our services to as many people as possible and continue to invest in making payments faster, cheaper and more efficient for millions of customers around the world.”
Thomas Easterby, Managing Director of Corporate Finance at Silicon Valley Bank UK, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Wise as we lead and orchestrate this important facility to deliver the next phase of the company’s growth. This financing continues our longstanding relationship with Wise, following last year’s pre-IPO syndicated financing.”
Rosh Wijayarathna, Head of Corporate Finance at Silicon Valley Bank UK, added: “Supporting innovation, innovators and their investors is in our DNA and SVB’s corporate finance team is delighted to arrange this facility for Wise. We are now seeing the UK create a global market leader The UK ecosystem is maturing into a world-leading innovation hub.”
One Of The Valuable Fintechs!
Founded in London in 2011 by Kristo Kaarmann and Taavet Hinrikus, Wise is one of the most valuable fintech companies. The product range includes debit cards, borderless accounts, money transfer services and application programming interfaces (APIs) for large corporations and banking partners.
Over 13 million individuals and businesses use Wise. It currently processes an average of over £8 billion in cross-border transactions per month, saving clients over £1 billion a year.
