TransferGo

TransferGo is a digital remittance solution for migrant workers ^[1] launched by Justinas Lasevičius, Daumantas Dvilinskas, Arnas Lukoševičius and Edvinas Šeršniovas on 18 September in 2012. The company uses a digital account to account business model, which means that money transfers do not have to leave the country as funds are paid in and out locally.

TransferGo is officially registered and licensed as a payment service provider. Company services are regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), supervised by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs Control (HMRC) under the Money Laundering Regulation.^[2]

The headquarters of TransferGo are located in Canary Wharf in London, Great Britain. In 2013 TransferGo was accepted as a member of Level39 ^[3][4] - Europe's largest accelerator space for technology businesses innovating in the finance, retail and future cities sectors and is also a founding member of Innovate Finance - an industry organisation that will accelerate the UK's leading position in the global financial services sector, by directly supporting the next era of technology-led financial services innovators, whether they be a young start-up or an established industry player.^[5]

History

In 2012 TransferGo Ltd was officially registered in the UK. It was founded by Justinas Lasevičius, Daumantas Dvilinskas and Edvinas Šeršniovas. Later, this team was joined by developer Arnas Lukoševičius, who created the website design and system.

In 2013 TransferGo acquired their small payment institution license which allowed them to transfer money to and from all EEA countries.

In 2013 TransferGo raised funding from Practica Seed Capital, a venture capital fund based in Lithuania.^[6]

In 2013, the team was joined by Greg Kidd - a consultant and financial expert to several international companies, investor to the social network Twitter and founder of Dispatch Management Services Corporation. He advises the company on business development and finance management.^[7]

In May 2013, TransferGo received "2013 Most Innovative Business Talent Award” from the most popular Lithuanian news portal Delfi and the Danish Chamber of Commerce.^[8]

In June 2013 TransferGo launched their Refer-a-Friend programme, which allows customers to earn extra money - 1% of the amount transferred - by referring new customers to TransferGo.

In July 2013 TransferGo was accepted to one of the biggest comparison websites money.co.uk.^[9]

In 2014 TransferGo received a silver innovation prize at HackOsaka in Japan ^[10]

In June 2014 TransferGo introduced a mobile version and direct debit card payments.

In October 2014 the CEO of TransferGo, Daumantas Dvilinskas, was selected to give a speech on the topic of "Bank of Ties versus Bank of Facebook" as a part of SIBOS international conference in Boston.^[11]

TransferGo announced on the 15th December 2015 its $2.5m seed round led by Mark Ransford; former investor at Apax Partners, Voria Fattahi; former investor at Kinnevik, and Clive Kahn; former CEO of Travelex.^[12]

Services

As of 2014, the company had recorded over 40,000 customers (taken from company website).

TransferGo transfers money between 23 European countries in their own currency. They are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and United Kingdom.^[2] The company can also make transfers to other countries in Europe, though they would pay out only in € there.^[13] There are no daily transfer limits set by the company and users are allowed to have both personal and/or a business account. The company's website is available in 5 languages: Lithuanian, English, Russian, Polish and Latvian.

TransferGo works according to principles of local in - local out. This means their customers make local money transfers into a local TransferGo bank account and then the company makes a local payment to the bank account of the recipient.^[14]

Investors

TransferGo raised capital from venture capital funds Practica Seed Capital KŪB and Practica Venture Capital KŪB using the structural support for the 2007-2013 economic growth program,^[15] co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Media attention

TransferGo has been mentioned as a new player in financial technology field by Techcrunch.^[16]

Arcticstartup ^[17]

Startups Tech Pitch: TransferGo ^[18][19]

Finextra - TransferGo launches in more European countries ^[20]

References