Seedcamp cut its TransferWise stake just as Andreessen Horowitz upped its shares
John Phillips/Getty Images for TechCrunch
According to TechCrunch, Seedcamp has sold a minority part of its stake in the money transfer firm, in an exit that sees 80% of its €5 million (£4.3 million) fund return to investors.
That follows on from a Sky News report claiming Andreessen Horowitz increased its existing investment in TransferWise by buying shares from existing, unspecified angel investors.
Seedcamp retains the bulk of its stake in TransferWise and the fund's cofounder Reshma Sohoni said the return might encourage angel investors to take bigger risks in Europe.
"As the first seed fund in Europe (set up back when it wasn't really a thing), made up mostly of Angels and VCs, we wanted to show that you can have unicorn exits and bring liquidity to a highly illiquid stage of investing," she told TechCrunch. "Getting money back into the hands of our Angels and VCs so fast should inspire them to take even bigger risks. 100 million or 200 million exits are great but billion dollar and 10 billion dollar exits just became possible!"
TransferWise's other early investors include Index Ventures, IA Ventures, and Valar Ventures. The company was valued at $1.1 billion (£884 million) after a $26 million (£20 million) funding round in May, making it a rare British unicorn. TransferWise has also recently expanded its business offering to the US.
The company remains unprofitable, according to its latest Companies House filings, reporting a loss of £17.4 million on revenues of £27.9 million in the year to March 2016.
Sohoni remained bullish on the startup's prospects, saying it was "just getting started".
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