International money transfer service Revolut has raised a £1.5m investment round led by Balderton Capital to help it tackle the $1.67bn cost of sending and spending abroad from the UK each year.
The company combines an app for sending money, facilitated via SMS, WhatsApp or social media channels, with a prepaid multi-currency Mastercard that enables users to spend and withdraw cash in 23 different currencies without being charged foreign exchange fees.
Revolut says it will ensure its customers receive zero charges for the first year of using the service, using the top-level Interbank exchange rate to get the cheapest global money deals.
Balderton adds Revolut to its fintech portfolio, which already includes Zopa, Crowdcube and Nutmeg.
The VC firm has been joined in the round by pan-EU accelerator and early-stage funder SeedCamp, backers of financial innovators like Monese, Oinky and Oradian.
Daniel Waterhouse, general partner at Balderton, said: “The addressable market for Revolut is huge. Of course, eradicating hidden costs for travellers is a big part of what they do, but Revolut’s app has a myriad of applications.
“Those who own property abroad, companies that pay foreign workers, and those sending wages across borders all stand to benefit. We are delighted to invest in Revolut as they have an exceptionally bright team, and they’re solving a major pain-point that the banks have ignored, and they’re doing it with an extremely elegant, mobile-first user-interface.”