Revolut and Atom Bank investor slashes fintech valuations

How do you value a private fintech startup?

It’s a tricky philosophical question in 2023 as well as a financially technical one. 

Funding rounds normally provide the most common data point, with a multi-investor agreed price tag for a unit of ownership.

But some investors are required to ‘mark down’ their portfolio investments on a regular basis. This has dealt a $15bn knock to Revolut’s lofty $33bn implied by its last round of funding in 2021. 

Schroders Capital Global Innovation trust, a UK-listed investment trust with a £10m stake in Revolut has marked its holding down by 46 per cent to £5.4m.

Atom Bank, which is the fund’s second largest holding after Oxford Nanopore, has been marked down 31 per cent.

The Durham based lender last raised funds in 2022 at a £460m valuation.

The Schroders Capital Global Innovation Trust was originally called Woodford Patient Capital when it was launched by Neil Woodford in 2015.

Woodford was an early backer of Atom Bank before a fall from grace brought down his eponynnous fund management business and moved the mandate to run the portfolio to Schroders. 

One of the first new investments made by the Schroders team was the Revolut stake in 2021.