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Challenger bank Revolut heading towards $1.4bn valuation following rumoured DST-led funding round

Revolut

International payment startup Revolut is heading for a quintuple in value over the next year due to a fundraising round led by DST Global.

According to people close to the matter, Revolut have been searching for investors for the past few months, in a deal that would see the London FinTech company raise about $150m.

The round is rumoured to be led by DST Global, an investment firm founded by Russian venture capitalist Yuri Milner.  This could bring the company’s total amount raised to date to $250m.

The payment firm raised £1.5m in 2015, followed by a much larger injection of $66m in Series B investment from backers including Index Ventures, Balderton Capital and Ribbit Capital. It was valued at around £200m just last summer, according to PitchBook.

This unusual spike in valuation follows a jump in  transaction volume — which the company says now measures $1.5bn a month.

Founded by CEO  Nikolay Storonsky Revolut acts like a digital bank, offering UK current accounts, which allow you to exchange up to 25 currencies without transaction fees.

It also offers instant spending notifications and trackers and even to buy and convert cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

It claims to have saved its customers £150m in exchange rate fees.

The company was founded in 2013, employes around 300-400 people, and is backed by 13 investors. It recently announced plans to expand in the US

This news comes as DST Global has been investing more in the FinTech sector; leading a $350m round at Robinhood, the stock-trading company that caters to millennials, and a $150 million round in Brazilian startup Nubank earlier this year.

Revolut monetizes through fees and premium offerings, saying it broke even for the first time in December 2017.

CTO and co-founder Vlad Yatsenko recently said Revolut could lead the UK towards being a cashless society within the next 10 years. “That is why Revolut are creating a number of features that to make it even easier for our customers to make secure, cashless payments,” he said.  

The company’s latest feature, disposable virtual cards, includes card details that automatically change after every transaction, to help deter fraud. The disposable virtual cards will work alongside Revolut’s existing customisable security features, including the ability to freeze and unfreeze a physical card.

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