Revolut
- Revolut has secured a $45 million valuation via a secondary share sale.
- The London-based neo-bank recently obtained a UK banking license after several years of waiting.
- Founded in 2015, it has 45 million customers and reported revenues of $2.2 billion in 2023.
Revolut has secured a $45 million valuation via a secondary share sale, despite a wider slump in fintech valuations.
The London-based neo-bank, which recently secured a banking license in the UK, has signed agreements with institutional investors over a share sale that significantly boosts the company's valuation.
Founded in 2015, Revolut is working with investors, including Coatue, D1 Capital Partners, and existing investor Tiger Global, to provide liquidity to employees who own shares in the business.
"We're delighted to provide the opportunity to our employees to realise the benefits of the company's collective success. It's their hard work, innovation, and dedication that has driven us to become the most valuable private technology company in Europe," Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky said in a statement.
In July 2021, Revolut was valued at $33 billion in a $800 million Series E round led by SoftBank and Tiger Global. That round came at the height of the tech market's COVID-19 boom, and Revolut has not raised primary capital from investors since.
In the intervening years, various funds invested in the fintech company reduced their paper valuations of the business in line with the wider slump in tech valuations post-Covid. This secondary deal allows employees to profit from their stakes in the company and also cements the fintech as Europe's most valuable tech startup ahead of a prospective IPO.
Matt Cooper, the co-CEO of crowdfunding investment platform Crowdcube, through which Revulot raised funds in 2016, called the valuation "an unprecedented event."
"Europe has never witnessed a secondary share sale on such a scale," Cooper told BI by email, adding Crowdcube was "incredibly proud" to have "provided retail investors the opportunity to invest in what has now become Europe's most valuable company."
The fintech became popular by enabling customers to spend money in 150 currencies at a real-time exchange rate with no fees through a debit card. Revolut has 45 million customers and offers bank accounts, savings options, and trading in stocks and cryptocurrencies.
According to Revolut's latest accounts, the company is profitable, with revenues of $2.2 billion and a pre-tax profit of $545 million in 2023.
Last month, the UK's Prudential Regulation Authority authorized the company's banking license years after the fintech first applied.
Revolut is now in what's known as the "mobilization stage" and will soon be able to offer loans, overdrafts, and savings products to its 9 million UK customers, helping it compete with rivals like Monzo and Starling and major financial institutions.
The company's next step would likely be an IPO. The Financial Times reported Friday that Storonsky favors a Nasdaq listing, over the fintech's home market of the UK.