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The UK may not be a top priority when looking for growth stocks to buy. After all, the exchange of technology stocks is like… Nvidia and Palantir They are listed across the pond. They have risen by 627% and 1,665% respectively in just three years!

However, the UK is home to some disruptive and lesser-known growth companies. Here are two that I think are worth a closer look today.

wise

Let’s start with the biggest, wise (LSE: WISE). The international money transfer specialist has a market capitalization of £10.8bn, but instead of trying to join it FTSE 100 indexit is moving its core menu to the United States.

However, it will maintain a secondary listing in London, where each share is currently priced at 1,050 pence. This puts the stock at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 26.5.

I don’t think this is outrageous for a company that has done the following in the past year:

• Underlying income increased by 19% on a constant currency basis to £1,619 million.
• Cross-border volume increased by 25% to £181.7 billion.
• The number of customers increased by 21% to 18.9 million.
• The pre-tax profit margin is expected to reach 16%.

Looking ahead, the growth engine still looks very strong to me. In addition to people, more and more companies are signing up to use Wise, whose infrastructure makes cross-border transactions cheaper and faster. About 75% of conversions are now instant.

Additionally, Wise is lowering his receiving rate as he expands. While some investors may not like this because it sacrifices profitability in the short term, it should put Wise in a much stronger competitive position in the long term.

As a long-term investor, this is what matters to me.

However, in the near term, the situation in the Middle East represents a risk to growth. If rising inflation and energy costs push the global economy into recession, fewer people and businesses will likely move money around.

Despite this risk, I’m happy to have Wise among the top 10 in my portfolio. The stock is up 21.5% year to date, but I still think it’s worth considering anywhere near £10.

Poco

Turn to Poco (LSE:BOKU) Now, this is a much smaller company, with a market capitalization of £525m. Despite its modest size, Boku works with the world’s largest merchants, helping them increase sales in over 60 countries through local payment methods (LPMs).

For example, let’s say someone in Thailand wants to sign up for Netflix. They choose their digital wallet as their payment method, and Boku provides the back-pipe that connects Netflix to that specific local wallet. Its network now reaches over 200 LPM, and is growing every year.

Last year, revenue jumped 30% to £129 million, up from £62 million in 2021. By 2028, analysts expect that to reach more than £210 million, and LPMs are expected to account for 60% of the $11 trillion global e-commerce market.

However, Boku is not a loss-making fintech company. Its profits are growing alongside strong revenue expansion, and confident management’s margins will improve in the coming years.

The good news is that this earnings growth doesn’t appear to be priced in, with the stock trading at just 18 times next year’s expected earnings. This is cheap for a scalable platform that you expect to continue growing at 20% in the medium term.

Once again, the global economic downturn is a risk, as is competition in the payments space. But I think this under-the-radar stock is worth considering buying in the next five years.