“Our focus is on rolling-out banking operations in Europe, increasing the number of people who use Revolut as their daily account, and striving towards profitability,” CEO Nik Storonsky said in the statement.
London-based banking app Revolut has raised $500 million in a funding round led by U.S.-based TCV, bringing its valuation to $5.5 billion.
This latest round, which also saw participation from various unnamed previous investors, makes Revolut one of Europe’s most valuable FinTech startups. It has raised a total of $836 million to date.
The company will use the cash infusion to strengthen its core retail and business offerings in existing markets, with a focus on product development. There are also plans to offer lending services for retail and business customers, as well as expanding its high interest savings accounts into other countries, improving customer service and rolling out banking operations throughout Europe.
The company added that it will also work on further developing its Premium and Metal subscription accounts, which grew by 154 percent last year. In addition, Revolut wants to expand its workforce, which currently includes over 2,000 people in 23 offices. Storonsky said that the company will likely add another 1,000 employees by the end of the year, most of whom will be in the compliance department. That isn’t a surprising move after it faced concerns that thousands of illegal transactions were allowed to pass through the app over three months.
Last year, Revolut brought on former Metro Bank Plc finance director Dave MacLean as its chief financial officer and named Standard Life Aberdeen executive Martin Gilbert as chairman.
Launched in 2015, Revolut has processed over 1 billion transactions worth over $130 billion. The firm last released financial results in 2018, reporting revenue of 58.2 million pounds ($63 million). However, its loss for that year more than doubled to 32.8 million pounds.
The company also revealed that the number of daily active customers grew by 380 percent last year, and Revolut is now targeting to reach 100 million customers in the next five years. Last year it launched in Singapore and the U.S., and would like to expand further into the U.S. and into Japan, among other markets.
