Revolut is Europe’s newest unicorn after raising $250m
Three-year-old start-up Revolut is now valued at $1.7bn.
Challenger bank Revolut, which opened a Dublin office last year, has gained unicorn status after raising $250m in funding.
The latest investment increases Revolut’s valuation by 500pc in a year to $1.7bn.
‘Our focus, since we launched, has been to do everything completely opposite to traditional banks’
– NIKOLAY STORONSKY
The Series C round was led by Hong Kong-based DST Global as well as Silicon Valley investors Index Ventures and Ribbit Capital.
The latest cash injection brings the total amount raised by Revolut to $340m since the company launched three years ago.
The fintech now processes $1.8bn through the platform each month. It is signing up between 6,000 and 8,000 new customers every day, with nearly 2m customers in total and an ambitious target of 100m customers in the next five years.
Revolut is sparking a European banking transformation
Foreground, from left: Revolut co-founders Vlad Yatsenko and Nikolay Storonsky. Image: Revolut
The company, which has offices in Dublin, recently revealed that it plans to become a fully fledged bank and it has applied for a European banking licence.
Founded in 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko, Revolut is an app-based banking alternative with a multi-currency card.
An account can be created in seconds, enabling users to instantly send free money transfers in 26 currencies to banks around the globe, spend fee-free in 120 currencies with the contactless Revolut card and exchange currencies at interbank rates in the app. It also offers peer-to-peer payments.
Last month, we reported on Revolut’s plans to allow customers set up and pay online with disposable virtual cards. It is hoped that the move will make the company a leader in the fight against online fraud.
“Revolut is developing and delivering technology that reduces the complexity and cost of financial services for consumers and small businesses,” said Tom Stafford, managing partner at DST Global.
“We are delighted to support Nik and the Revolut team as they continue to innovate, roll out new services and expand geographically.”
Revolut app and card. Image: Revolut
With more than 250,000 daily active users, the fintech has been pushing out its product at an impressive rate in its mission to convince people to ditch their traditional banks.
In the last few months alone, Revolut has launched features that allow customers to instantly buy and sell cryptocurrencies as well as a savings feature that enables people to round up their daily transactions and save their spare change in a digital vault.
The new capital will be used to expand Revolut worldwide, starting with the US, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia in 2018. Revolut also expects to increase its workforce from 350 to around 800 employees by the end of the year, with a focus on attracting world-class engineers and designers.
“Our focus, since we launched, has been to do everything completely opposite to traditional banks,” explained CEO Storonsky.
“We build world-class tech that puts people back in control of their finances, we speak to our customers like humans and we’re never afraid to challenge old thinking in order to innovate.
“To have DST Global on board is an incredible endorsement of our business strategy as we begin to expand Revolut around the world. Banking has historically avoided disruptions by technology, but that is all about to change on a big scale.”
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