Funding round
Revolut ‘now worth more than NatWest’
Martin Gilbert: Revolut will get into fund management (pic: SNS Group)
Revolut, the digital banking and payments start-up chaired by Scots financier Martin Gilbert, now has a higher valuation than NatWest following its latest funding round.
New investment raised $800m (£579m) from Japan’s SoftBank and New York-based Tiger Global Management and each now holds a 5% stake in the start-up whichy has become the UK’s most valuable ever private technology company.
Its latest funding round valued it at £24 billion, making it worth six times more than last year.
Revolut provides currency exchange, current account and crypto-currency services for 15 customers across 35 countries but is still in the process of attaining a UK banking licence.
Mr Gilbert, who founded Aberdeen Asset Management and was co-CEO of Standard Life Aberdeen, believes Revolut will get into managing assets.
“Revolut will have to get into asset management. There are no plans at the moment but you cannot avoid it,” he told a virtual conference organised by ETF Stream in May.
“ETFs would be an ideal product to offer, we’d have to go in with the low-cost option,” he said.
Founded by the former Lehman Brothers trader Nik Storonsky, Revolut was an early entry into crypto-currency markets which some attribute to its rapid success.
In a statement, Mr Storonsky said the new valuation was “an endorsement of our mission to create a global financial super-app that enables customers to manage all their financial needs through a single platform”.
The firm saw its losses double to £201m last year, which it blamed on having to hire more staff.
