Wise
Cross-border money transfer that built an entire business on showing the exchange rate banks would rather hide.
It started in 2011 as TransferWise, founded in London by Estonians Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Käärmann. The trick was to match payments flowing the opposite way: a transfer from Sweden to the UK is matched internally against one going the other direction, so the money never actually crosses a border. The customer gets the mid-market rate plus an openly stated fee instead of a hidden markup.
The company renamed itself Wise in 2021 and direct-listed on the London Stock Exchange the same year. Alongside transfers it now offers multi-currency accounts and cards. The rebrand reflected that the service had grown beyond transfers — but the point is the same as in 2011: a price you can see.