Revolut achieves unicorn status following $250m funding round

Fintech firm Revolut has become the first of Britain’s digital-only banks to achieve unicorn status. The company said it had raised $250m (£179m)  in a third funding round that valued the company at $1.7bn – five times what it was worth a year ago.

The new round of funding was led by Hong-Kong based DST Global with existing investors Index Ventures and Ribbit Capital also participating. 

Revolut is currently in the process of securing a banking license. Its user base of almost 2m customers has access to a mobile app, a prepaid card and cheap foreign currency. There are over 100,000 people on the company’s waiting list, it said, with thousands more joining every day.

It said it would use the money to hire more developers and designers, and to fund worldwide expansion, with launches planned in the US, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand this year, and many more countries in the pipeline.

It also plans to add more products and services, adding Ripple and Bitcoin Cash to its existing Revolut Crypto portfolio of Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ether. It also plans to launch Revolut Platinum, which it describes as “a radically better solution for everyday banking,” though no further details are offered save for the fact it will come with a a bespoke contactless card made entirely from stainless steel and coated with a custom shade of metallic black paint.

Also in the pipeline is Revolut Wealth, which will enable Revolut users to invest their funds into stocks, indexes and exchange traded funds, alongside a variety of other financial instruments.