Revolut, the start-up app, is now the UKs most valuable fintech, valued at £24 billion
The digital banking and start-up company Revolut is now valued at £24 billion, making it the UK's most valuable private fintech company to date. In its latest funding round, it is now worth more than the UK street bank NatWest. Only six years old, Revolut is now worth six times more than it was valued in 2020. In its latest investment round, £579m ($800m) was raised through Japan's SoftBank and Tiger Global Management based in NYC. Both investment groups now hold a 5% stake in Revolut, which has 15 million users.
Revolut provides a platform a mobile-app based service for currency exchange, providing digital current account and crypto currency services to its 15 million users in 35 countries and hopes to get approval to be given a UK banking license.
Funded in 2015, Revolut was the brain child of ex Lehmann Brothers trader Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko and the company was an early entry into, at the time, the uncertain crypto currency markets and its creation triggered Revolut to its success. And Storonsky's Revolut mission has been "to create a global super app that enables customers to manage all their financial needs through a single platform".
Revolut is now at the forefront of Europe's neobanking sector with the potential for greater expansion. With its latest investment, Revolut plans to enter the US and Indian markets has has massive potential.
Revolut is not a traditionally a bank, but a tech business, that merely trades the way a bank does, but via a mobile app. As a result of its online presence, Revolut has been valued in a way that traditional high street banks can't be valued. Neobanks act as current accounts, but very few of their customers have salaries paid directly into them. Transfers are made from employers into an employees traditional bank account and then transfers are made into these neobank accounts.
Even with this latest investment round, Revolut saw losses of over $200 million in 2020 which was the result of hiring more staff to cope with the extra workload. The European fintech sector is gaining ground now, with more companies now being valued at mega billion sums.
