Founded six years ago by Russian entrepreneur Nikolay Storonski, London’s digital bank Revolut will be led by SoftBank Group’s Vision Fund 2 (SVF2) and Tiger Global on July 15. In the funding round, it announced that it had raised $ 800 million. The company’s valuation was an astonishing $ 33 billion.
Now, Revolut is the UK’s most valuable fintech startup. Founder 37-year-old Stronsky owns more than 20% of the company, and Forbes estimates his wealth at $ 7.1 billion.
Stronsky said in a statement that he would promote a mission to create a “global financial superappli.”
Revolut has increased its value by 500% since it was valued at $ 5.5 billion when raised in February 2020. However, in FY12 / 2020, sales were $ 307 million and losses were $ 217 million. In 2019, the year before, it also had sales of $ 229 million and a loss of $ 148 million. The company prioritizes customer acquisition and continues to burn money.
“Revolut is redefining the role of financial services and at the forefront of Europe’s neo banking sector,” Softbank senior investor Karol Niwiadmski said in a statement.
Revolut will use the proceeds to expand customer service in the United States and enter India and other international markets.
UK Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement from the company, “It’s great that Revolut plans to expand with more funding. More success stories for UK fintech companies like the company. I want to expect it. “
Investors are fascinated by the growth of Revolut. From 2019 to 2020, the company’s flagship retail banking users have more than doubled from 10 million to 14.5 million and its business customers have more than doubled from 220,000 to 500,000. In 2020, Revolut obtained a banking license in Lithuania and later in Poland, providing a foothold for providing widespread banking services in Europe.
FinTech billionaires in Europe
However, the biggest challenge for the company is labor costs. Total labor costs increased from $ 82 million in 2019 to $ 235 million in 2020, with staff costs reaching 74% of sales in 2020.
Still, investors believe in the future of the company and FinTech. According to data released by Crunchbase on July 7, the total amount of global venture capital investment in the first half of 2021 reached the largest ever amount of $ 288 billion, an increase of about $ 110 billion from the amount in the second half of 2020. It was.
Investor concentration and growing interest in fintech have created multiple billionaires in this area of Europe. Included are Wise co-founders Kristo Käämann and Tabet Hinriks, Checkout.com founder Guillaume Posers, and Klarna co-founders Sebastian Siemiatkowski and Victor. Jacobson and so on.
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