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The European fintech has seen a surge in valuation following $800m funding from Softbank and Tiger Global.
After just six years in business, Revolut has reached a valuation of $33bn following its latest round of funding. This marks a dramatic jump from the company’s last valuation at $5.5bn.
Series E funding of $800m for Revolut comes from Softbank’s Vision 2 Fund and Tiger Global Management, both of which are first-time investors in the European fintech.
“This funding round makes Revolut the UK’s most valuable fintech, demonstrating investors’ confidence that we can deliver products that raise the bar for customers’ expectations across the whole financial services industry,” said CEO and co-founder Nikolay Storonsky.
Storonsky founded Revolut along with CTO Vlad Yatsenko in July 2015. The digital banking app started out with a focus on money transfer and exchange. It now serves more than 16m customers and has expanded services to include savings, insurance and trading.
Revolut will use this Series E investment to continue to build out its digital banking services, aiming to become a “global financial super-app”, according to its CEO.
“Our services will be increasingly personalised, responding to our customers’ daily needs, always with low and transparent fees,” said Storonsky.
This funding will also support Revolut’s expansion into the US market and an entry into India. Other international markets are also on its roadmap.
Revolut marked its first entry into the US and Japan in 2020. Moves to grow in the US in particular present a capital-intensive challenge for fintechs facing competition from established local companies as well as British competitor Monzo.
Karol Niewiadomski, senior investor at SoftBank Investment Advisers, positioned Revolut “at the forefront of Europe’s nascent neobanking sector” and said the company has “redefined the role of financial services”.
Tiger Global partner Scott Shleifer praised the company’s “superior customer experience and focus on rapid product development”.
Both investment partners are keen on driving global growth for the app.
Rishi Sunak, UK chancellor of the exchequer, welcomed Revolut’s expansions plans as a jobs boost for the UK. The company headquarters are in London and it also has offices in New York, Singapore and Berlin.
This latest funding comes as Revolut reports mounting losses.
The company’s financial results for 2020 were a mixed bag. Revenue was up 57pc to £261m and user numbers spiked during pandemic spending. However, the company booked total comprehensive losses of £168m for the year ending 12 December 2020, an increase from £107m the year prior.
Revolut also reported that it made a gain of £38.7m on cryptocurrencies in 2020 through its crypto trading service.
