Bucking a trend among technology companies, money transfer fintech Wise will add 250 employees — an increase of more than 41% — to its U.S. team in 2023.

London-based Wise saw a 58% increase in revenue over the first six months of its fiscal 2023 in its North American business compared with the same period in 2022. The new hires will help its U.S.-based team of 600 employees keep up with demand for its products and platform, Balazs Barna, head of U.S. engineering at Wise, told Bank Automation News.

The added team members will fill roles in customer service, operations, engineering, product analysis and design throughout Wise’s offices in New York, Tampa, Fla., and in its newest location — Austin, Texas — which will serve as the fintech’s U.S. headquarters, Barna said.

“What we want to build in Austin is a full-stack office. We are hiring really fast because the demand for the product is very high,” evidenced by the company’s continued revenue growth, he added.

Wise’s growth plans follow several layoff announcements by tech companies including Amazon, Chime and Stripe, which are all preparing for an economic downturn in the year ahead.

Wise demand

The growing interest in Wise and its API-first, cloud-based platform comes as banking clients demand instant cross-border transfers — without the added expense of traditional bank fees.

“We use the mid-market rate on every transfer, and 50% of [our transfers] are now instant,” Barna said, noting this has increased from 10% to 15% instant transfers in the past couple of years.

Wise accomplishes these instant transfers by opening bank accounts that clients can send domestic transfers to; once received, Wise sends that money to another of its accounts in the intended country, he said. “We have the ability to pay out in every single country using the local payment [process].”

Additionally, Wise has invested in its in-house efforts to eliminate human intervention in money movement by creating instant payment capabilities, Barna said. Those automations are created by the Wise team and through its use of open-source technology platforms Kafka and Java Spring Boot.

U.S. banks, too, are interested in Wise’s capabilities, Barna said. “It wouldn’t make sense for [banks] to build the same network; it makes more sense for them to use our network to move money.”

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