UK fintech Revolut has upped its valuation to $45bn in an employee share sale weeks after securing a UK banking licence.
The London-based company said on Friday that the secondaries are being purchased by investors including Coatue, D1 Capital Partners and Tiger Global. Revolut most recently raised outside capital in a $800m Series D round in 2021 at a $33bn valuation.
“Revolut’s proven ability to scale across dozens of markets is a testament to the team’s commitment to product velocity, financial inclusion, and financial innovation,” says Coatue founder Phillipe Laffont. “Under Nik [Storonsky] and his team’s leadership, Revolut has navigated the complexities of the financial services landscape to deliver an impressive product suite that meets the needs of its rapidly growing customer base.”
The financial super-app
Revolut was founded by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko in 2015 as a financial travel app, attracting customers with fee-free payments across multiple currencies. It’s since expanded into business banking, kids’ bank accounts, travel insurance, savings and stock trading in its bid to become the go-to financial superapp. This year, the fintech debuted several new products including a crypto exchange for professional traders and an eSim product.
Its valuation increase comes ahead of an expected public listing for Revolut, which industry insiders say is likely to happen in New York over London. City minister Tulip Siddiq is expected to meet Revolut in autumn in a bid to convince the company to consider a listing in its home country.
One Revolut investor — who asked not to be identified so he could speak freely — previously told Sifted that the company would likely need to hire a placement CFO with experience on public markets as it gears up for an IPO. Currently, longtime employee Victor Stinga serves as CFO on an interim basis after previous CFO Mikko Salovaara resigned citing “personal reasons”.
A new era
Revolut’s new valuation follows a banner year for the fintech. Last month, it posted record profits in its 2023 company accounts, making a pre-tax profit of £438m, up from losses of £25m the year before. Revenues nearly doubled to £1.8bn, from £923m in 2022. The company will also move into a new 113k sq ft office in London’s financial district Canary Wharf in May next year.
And at the tail end of last month, Revolut received its long-awaited UK banking licence — three years after making its application. It’s now entered the mobilisation period where it will fully build out its banking operation and bolster its senior management team, a process which could last up to twelve months.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/revolut-valuation-employee-news/
