Like so many apps, Revolut was built with the intent purpose of fixing a personal issue. Nikolay Storonsky (co-founder and CEO) travelled a lot and was wasting hundreds of pounds on foreign transaction fees, which he understood as an employee at Credit Suisse to be ridiculously excessive.
After failing to find a bank that would cover multiple currencies, Storonsky and Vladyslav Yatsenko (co-founder and CTO) left their jobs at Credit Suisse to solve this issue. They started working on Revolut in Canary Wharf’s Level39 tech incubator, a hub for fintech startups.
Instead of working with the financial tech available, Revolut removed the middle-men and brought infrastructure in-house. Storonsky cites this as the route to financial stability, by reducing the amount of friction between Revolut and the user, although it has yet to make a profit.
Like Monzo and Starling, Revolut earns most of its revenue through a process called interchange, in which it takes 0.2 percent of each transaction fee. For the first few years, this did not translate to much, but as Revolut has added more users (12 million in 2020) the 0.2 percent fees have started to add up.
Unlike Monzo and Starling, Revolut is far more Euro-centric. It works in all EU and European Economic Area countries. It also works with countries that have trade and data transfer agreements with the EU, such as Canada, Japan and Australia. It also recently launched in the United States.
Users are able to transfer in 29 currencies and withdraw money into 130 currencies.
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Find out moreRevolut runs its banking system through Lithuania, which approved its European Banking license in 2018. The company had originally applied for a UK banking license, but due to a controversial report in 2019 that Revolut disabled a system to automatically halt sanctioned transactions, the UK government postponed the decision indefinitely.
Revolut is reportedly planning to re-apply for a UK banking license again in 2020, although exact specifics have not been revealed. With this, Revolut would be able to offer FSCS-protected deposits and lending services to UK customers.
Europe is not the end goal for Revolut however, Storonsky aims to be a “financial superapp” for the world, following in the footsteps of Alipay and WeChat Pay, which have revolutionised banking in China.
That desire to be more than a one-nation challenger bank may have provided Revolut with stronger footing on the funding side, as it was valued at $5.5 billion in 2019, higher than its three competitors N26, Monzo and Starling Bank.
Alongside the small commission it takes from debit-cards, it also offers two premium tiers:
- Premium: unlimited foreign exchange, double free ATM withdrawals abroad and travel insurance.
- Metal: all premium features plus one percent cashback with any currency (including crypto), quadruple free ATM withdrawals abroad, cashback and discounts.
Last year, Revolut launched a commission-free stocking trading app in the vein of Robinhood and a cryptocurrency trader. It also launched a Junior account, aimed at teaching 7 to 17 year olds about responsible spending and budgeting.
Revolut aims to use the $500 million it received in funding to acquire other tech companies, specifically focused on travel aggregation platforms. It also intends to launch more banking services in the United States.
We’ve collected data and statistics on Revolut users, revenue, profit and competition. Read on to find out more.
Revolut Overview
| Launch date | 1 July 2015 |
| HQ | London, UK |
| People | Nikolay Storonsky (CEO), Vladyslav Yatsenko (CTO) |
| Industry | Fintech |
| Business type | Private |
Revolut Total Users
| 2016 | 0.1 million |
| 2017 | 0.6 million |
| 2018 | 2 million |
| 2019 | 6 million |
| 2020 | 12 million |
Sources: The Fintech Times, Finder, Alt-fi
Revolut Daily Active Users
| 2016 | 0.3 million |
| 2018 | 0.4 million |
| 2020 | 1.1 million |
Sources: Revolut, Fin-extra, Sifted
Revolut Revenue
| 2016 | £2.3 million |
| 2017 | £13 million |
| 2018 | £58 million |
| 2019 | £160 million |
Revolut Profit
| 2016 | (£7 million) |
| 2017 | (£15 million) |
| 2018 | (£11 million) |
| 2019 | (£33 million) |
Sources: Business Insider, Sifted
Revolut Total Transaction Volume
| 2015 | £150 million |
| 2016 | £1 billion |
| 2017 | £5 billion |
| 2018 | £20 billion |
| 2019 | £65 billion |
Sources: Forbes, EU-Startups, Insight Success, Fin-extra
Revolut Total Funding
| 2016 | $10 million |
| 2017 | $80 million |
| 2018 | $330 million |
| 2019 | $917 million |
Source: Crunchbase
Revolut Average Customer Contribution
| 2018 | (£1.52) |
| 2019 | £24 |
Note: This is the amount of profit Revolut makes from the average customer.
Revolut Average Customer Deposit
| 2018 | £251 |
| 2019 | £305 |
Sources: Sifted, The Telegraph, FT
Revolut Average Daily Signups
| 2017 | 3,250 |
| 2018 | 7,000 |
| 2019 | 12,000 |
Sources: TechCrunch, (2), (3)
Monzo vs Revolut vs Starling Bank
Key Revolut stats
- Revolut has doubled its user-base in the past year and aims to reach 20 million users by 2021
- Revolut has higher average customer contribution than N26, Monzo and Starling Bank, due to having more active users
- But, because a lot of people use it for cheaper international withdrawals, it has the lowest monthly deposits of the four major challenger banks (Sifted)
- Revolut is available in 37 countries, including all EU and EEA countries
- Users are able to hold and exchange 29 currencies on the app, and can withdraw 130 currencies with the company’s debit card.
- Users can also withdraw money from 120 countries
- Revolut is the third most valuable startup ($5.5 billion) in Europe, behind Roviant Sciences ($7 billion) and Farfetch ($6.2 billion).
- The average age of a Revolut user is 34, two years older than the average Monzo user and one year younger than the average at Starling Bank (Revolut)
- 60 percent of Revolut’s users are male (FT)
