Fintech sector continues to attract investment as Revolut hits $33bn valuation

Julien Eichinger – stock.adobe.c

Revolut has change into the most helpful financial expertise firm within the UK after its most up-to-date round of investment, with plans for a ‘superapp’

Karl Flinders,
Emea Stammer Editor, Computer Weekly

Published: 15 Jul 2021 13: 47

Tech-led challenger finance firm Revolut has raised $800m in its most up-to-date round of funding, making it the UK’s most helpful financial expertise (fintech) firm.

The investment will extra enhance self belief within the fintech sector, which is attracting major investments again following a lull all around the Covid-19 pandemic.

Revolut, which is but to receive a earnings, is now valued at $33bn.

In 2015, the firm launched within the UK offering cash transfer and alternate services. It now has over 16 million possibilities around the field the usage of it merchandise to receive greater than 150 million transactions a month.

The fintech will exercise the funding – from Softbank Imaginative and prescient Fund 2 and Tiger World Management – to gasoline its product innovation exercise extra and manufacture a “world superapp”. The extra capital will additionally lend a hand its growth to US possibilities and its entry to other worldwide markets, collectively with India.

Revolut founder Nikolay Storonsky acknowledged the firm deliberate to operate a “superapp” which is ready to accommodate a substantial different of finance merchandise.

“We’re constructing a pudgy financial product suite in a single app, where you will repeatedly fetch the product that nearly all efficient meets your needs,” acknowledged Storonsky.

He added that the firm would amplify the personalisation of its merchandise with a endured form out “low and clear prices”.

The most up-to-date investment in Revolut follows present funding rounds at SaltPay ($500m), Checkout.com ($450m) and Starling Monetary institution ($376m), and brings more sure news after a terminate in fintech investments at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Economic uncertainties all around the pandemic introduced about a terminate in fintech investments. As an illustration, based entirely on Innovate Finance, easiest $760m changed into invested in UK fintech within the 2nd quarter of 2020, compared with greater than $1.2bn (£940m) within the an identical quarter in 2019.

Numbers from the fintech exchange physique earlier this week published that investment within the UK fintech sector changed into recuperating strongly, with investment in UK fintech at $5.7bn (£4.1bn) within the main six months of 2021, which is bigger than within the total of 2020, when $4.3bn changed into invested.

UK chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak acknowledged it changed into mountainous news that the investment in Revolut would lead to the advent of more jobs within the UK. “We’re looking for to search around for even more mountainous British fintech success stories like Revolut,” he added.

The UK has developed a giant fintech sector and is pinning its hopes on it as an exchange of the future. A Treasury-commissioned review of the UK’s future in fintech told the govt. in February that it must urgently introduce efficient policies in 5 key areas if the fintech exchange is to proceed to thrive.

The review, done by Ron Kalifa, chairman of fintech big Worldpay, dwelling out the steps that the UK must desire if it is miles to dwell one of many field’s main fintech locations. It suggested upskilling Brits within the ways of fintech and swiftly-monitoring international expertise, dispersing fintech innovation from London across the country, and extending funding for fintechs in any appreciate stages of their lifecycles.

Stammer Continues Below