Banking challenger Revolut has confirmed the closing of a successful $66m Series B investment round, led by Index Ventures. Existing investors Balderton Capital and Ribbit Capital also participated. News of the fundraise was first leaked by Sky News a few weeks ago, but with key details lacking.
The $66m warchest will soon be topped up with an extra $5m in equity crowdfunding capital, which will be hosted on Seedrs later this month. The round was announced in March, and has so far attracted more than £17m from over 10,000 would-be backers. Shares will be allocated among these investors by ballot, with users of Revolut’s premium offering prioritised.
The money will be used to fund aggressive expansion across Asia and North America. The company will also hire a number of country managers across Europe, targeting key markets such as Germany, France and Scandinavia.
“Asia and North America are far from immune to hidden banking fees and dated technology,” said Nikolay Storonsky, founder and CEO of Revolut. “The fintech revolution has been an astounding success across Europe, and now is the time to broaden our horizon and embark on our global mission. With over 700,000 customers across Europe in just two years, I’m confident that Revolut will attract similar demand across Asia and North America.”
Revolut is still best-known for its seamless money exchange service, which allows users to flit between 16 currencies at the interbank exchange rate, and to spend fee-free overseas.
But the app has expanded at a rapid pace over the past two years. The company continues to build out its marketplace of third-party products, which currently features an instant credit offering, with insurance and wealth tabs listed as “coming soon”. Revolut also branched out into the commercial banking space in June, landing FTSE 100 users at launch.
The company has hinted that it will soon launch personal IBAN accounts across Europe, allowing users to have their salaries paid into their Revolut account. It has also said that integrating cryptocurrencies into the app – thus allowing customers to hold, exchange, spend and transfer in bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum – is also in the pipeline.
