Revolut’s valuation has tripled since the company was last valued by investors at $ 1.7 billion in April 2018. With the additional $ 500 million from the last round, the total amount raised by Revolut has reached $ 836 million. According to CB Insights venture capital firm Revolut is already one of the most valuable startup companies, and in parallel with e-commerce unicorn Klarna, are the most significant fintech companies in Europe.
Founded in 2015, Revolut initially gained popularity by allowing consumers to send money abroad without paying significant fees. This is one of the new mobile application banks that offer banking services without expensive networks of physical branches. Its competitors include the British companies Monzo and Starling, as well as the German N26.
Over the years, Revolut has added new features to its application, including cryptocurrencies and stock trading, and more so savings products. It already has a customer base of over 10 million customers, with customer growth surging over 150% in 2019. For years, Revolut has been striving to expand into the US, and this fresh cash injection can bring the company closer to that goal. Although it has managed to expand beyond Europe to countries such as Australia and Singapore, America is proving to be a more difficult target for Revolut and other fintech companies due to regulatory complexity.
The company said it was looking to launch in the US in the first half of 2020. However, the company stressed that its primary goal with the new funding is to strengthen its current offering in existing markets, as well as launch lending services for retail and business customers.
“Our mission is to build a global financial platform – one single application where our clients can manage all their day-to-day finances and this investment demonstrates investor confidence in our business model,”
Revolut founder and CEO Nick Storonski said in a statement. He added that he was “striving for profitability,” something that investors will closely watch after the company’s losses double in 2018 to $ 42.4 million. Focusing on subscription-based accounts, where users pay a monthly fee for additional bonuses, can help the company go green faster. Like many of its competitors, Revolut currently derives the bulk of its revenue from merchant fees each time a customer uses their card to pay for something.