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Revolut Ltd

Type of site	Private
Available in	Multilingual
Founded	June 2013; 11 years ago (2013-06)
Headquarters	London, United Kingdom
Founder(s)	Nikolay Storonsky, Vlad Yatsenko
CEO	Nikolay Storonsky
Industry	FinTech
Products	Debit card, Foreign Exchange, Insurance, Peer-to-peer Lending, Remittance
Services	Travel money, currency exchange, peer-to-peer payments
Employees	400 (2018)
URL	revolut.com
Registration	Yes
Launched	July 1, 2015; 9 years ago (2015-07-01)

Revolut Ltd is a digital banking alternative that includes a pre-paid debit card (MasterCard or VISA), currency exchange, cryptocurrency exchange (Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), XRP (XRP)) and peer-to-peer payments. Revolut currently charges no fees for the majority of its services (but for a capped usage), and uses interbank exchange rates for its currency exchange on weekdays, and charge a markup from 0.5% to 1.5% on weekends. The Revolut App gives customers instant access to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and XRP by exchanging to/from 25 fiat currencies. However, they remain in the app and cannot be moved to another cryptocurrency wallet.

The London-based startup was founded by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko and currently supports spending and ATM withdrawals in 120 currencies and sending in 26 currencies directly from the mobile app.

The company is based in Level39, a financial technology incubator in Canary Wharf, London.

Revolut App is available for Android and iOS users also as a desktop platform for business customers.

History

Revolut launched to the public in July 2015 with the aim of "building a fair and frictionless platform to use and manage money around the world" by removing hidden fees and offering interbank currency rates. Nikolay Storonsky, a former trader at Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers, said in an interview with Forbes that:

I thought of the business three years ago. I was travelling a lot and wasting hundreds of pounds on foreign transaction fees and exchange rate commissions which just didn’t feel right. As someone with a financial background I knew exactly the rates I should be getting. As a solution, I tried to find a multi-currency card and was later told it wasn’t possible. But I was determined to make it work.

Alongside Vladyslav Yatsenko, former Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank developer, Storonsky set up Revolut and raised around $3.5 million.

On 8 February 2017, Revolut launched UK current accounts, enabling its customers to get a personal IBAN. In July 2017, Revolut started doing the same for personal EUR IBANs.

On 26 April 2018, Revolut announced that it had raised a further $250 million in a funding round led by Hong Kong-based DST Global, reaching a total valuation of $1.7 billion and thus becoming a unicorn.

As of June 2018 the company claimed to have over 2 million users.

On 22 August 2018, Revolut launched the Revolut Metal Card, actually made of metal. It is three times the weight of a normal card and crafted from a single sheet of reinforced steel. The Metal Card offers a dedicated concierge service allowing to book anything from flights to festival tickets, whilst included overseas travel insurance covers areas including health, dental, flight and luggage delays. A cashback feature allows customers to receive up to 1 per cent cashback in either fiat (normal currency) or cryptocurrency, like bitcoin.

References

1. "British fintech startup Revolut to seek U.S. banking license: CEO". Reuters. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
2. "Revolut company profile". AngelList. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
3. Dillet, Romain (20 July 2015). "Revolut Raises $2.3 Million For Its Mobile Foreign Exchange Service". TechCrunch. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
4. "Revolut on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
5. "Revolut: Not necessarily cheaper than an(y) other Mastercard". Retrieved 13 March 2016.
6. "Weekend exchange-rate surcharge clarification". Retrieved 2017-12-05.
7. "Banking App for Travelers – Revolut Converts Currencies Minus the Fees! | Kevin Kyburz". Kevin Kyburz. 2018-01-29. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
8. "Revolut FAQ". Revolut. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
9. "Are You Ready To Give Fintech A Try?". Forbes. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
10. "About Revolut". Retrieved 2016-09-11.
11. "Revolut Deck". SlideShare. 2015-01-14. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
12. ^ Salter, Philip. "London Fintech Entrepreneur Talking About A Revolution". Forbes.
13. Dillet, Romain (8 February 2017). "Revolut launches current accounts and a chatbot". Retrieved 8 February 2017.
14. Munford, Monty (26 April 2018). "Revolut launches current accounts and a chatbot". Retrieved 26 April 2018.
15. "Fintech start-up Revolut grabs 2 million users and plans to launch commission-free trading service". CNBC. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
16. "UK fintech start-up Revolut reaches 2 million users". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 June 2018.

External links

• Official website

• Foreign exchange companies
• Digital currency exchange
• Financial services companies of the United Kingdom