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Startup Revolut received $800 million in funding
British startup Revolut held another round of financing, which resulted in it becoming the most expensive in the country. The company received investments of $800 million, and its valuation rose to $33 billion. The startup showed a six-fold increase in value since the previous round.
This interest in the company is primarily a sign of high demand in the fintech sector. Investors paid attention to it during the pandemic, when the volume of electronic payments skyrocketed. And despite the fact that the world has almost returned to normal interaction, the popularity of e-commerce is not declining and continues to show excellent growth.
SoftBank and hedge fund Tiger Global Management became the main investors of Revolut. The company plans to use the money received to develop new products, as well as to enter the US and Indian markets.
The Revolut startup is an online bank; its founders are Nikolay Stransky and Vladislav Yanovsky. The service offers users to make online payments, convert currencies, send funds to each other, and conduct operations with cryptocurrency. In March, the company sent a request to the U.S. regulator for a banking license.
There is high interest in other fintech companies, including Klarna, a startup from Sweden. In June, the latter received $640 million in financing, which increased its business valuation to $45.6 billion, showing a fourfold increase. A month later, the British company Wise carried out a direct listing on the stock exchange in London, its valuation amounted to 11 billion dollars.
The number of Revolut users is growing regularly. According to the latest data, their number among private clients is 15 million people, and among the company – 500 thousand organizations. The startup showed a surge in 2020, and the staff could not cope with such an influx of users. Therefore, it had to significantly expand its staff, which led to an increase in costs. As a result, the operating loss doubled last year to $278 million.
Revolut entered the market in 2015, and already in 2018 it became a unicorn, the startup was valued at $1.7 billion. The service was originally created for comfort travel, so that people in other countries could make money transactions without problems. To use Revolut, it is necessary to register by phone number, after which the client receives a virtual bank card, if desired, you can also order a physical version. The Revolut idea was the basis for the development of the Ukrainian Internet banking service Monobank.