Revolut joins the unicorn club

Fintech firm Revolut has joined the ranks of unicorns – tech start-ups valued at more than $1 billion – after a new round of investment.

The UK-based firm promotes itself as a digital alternative to traditional banking, with free international money transfers, free global ATM withdrawals, and in-app money saving and crypto-trading tools.

Since launch in 2015, Revolut has seen significant growth in its customer base and continuously added new features in response to user suggestions. Investors are clearly expecting that growth to continue, with this latest round of investment – led by $250 million from DST Global – seeing its value soar to more than $1.7 billion

But, even after joining the likes of Deliveroo and Snap in the unicorn club, it remains to be seen whether Revolut can achieve its stated ambition of replacing the traditional bank account.

In our recent whitepaper ‘Challenger banks: good but not yet good enough’, we concluded that firms like Revolut have a long way to go before they’re seen as credible challengers to the established players. In many areas, such as confidence in delivery and customer service, traditional banks still hold the advantage over the younger upstarts.

For Revolut and its contemporaries, successfully addressing that imbalance will determine whether this unicorn turns out to be just another fairy tale.

Read the full whitepaper here.