Revolut’s losses double to £33m as it gears up to hire staff, expand reach
UK-headquartered challenger bank Revolut’s losses doubled to £32.8 million in 2018, despite its revenue increasing 354%.
Ups and downs for fast-growing Revolut
After announcing its aim to take on 3,500 more staff and its partnership with Visa, it came to light that the neobank’s cost of sales rose 247% in the last year.
Analysis of the bank’s financials for 2018 by FT Alphaville also revealed that three of its chief executives sold $25 million worth of shares between them in August last year, with its chief and founder Nik Storonsky netting $14.5 million from his sale alone.
The analysis also highlighted the inequality in distribution of shares. It showed that at the end of December Storonsky’s 9,601,001 share count was ten times that of Revolut’s CTO Vladyslav Yatsenko’s, who is the second highest employed shareholder. This leaves senior engineers with less than a hundredth of Storonsky’s stake.
Read more: Revolut reveals new agreement with Visa, set to hire 3,500
City AM sources suggest, however, that the fintech is on the cusp of raising a funding round in the region of $500 million before the end of this year.
The bank has also confirmed its customer base hit 7 million earlier this year, up 3.4 million since the end of last year.
As well as hiring thousands of new employees, including eight new CEOs, Revolut is also expanding its offering to Brazil, Japan, Russia, the US, Singapore, New Zealand and Canada by the end of this year.
As for next year, it’s set its sights on Latin American, Asian and South African markets.
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I am new to Revolut. Less than 1 month. But so far all I can say Is that it has been marvelous. Everywhere I have been in Spain has accepted the card. Olé!
There’s another company out there that tried to convince the world that it’s not in real estate business despite operating offices… It was all about growth and hiring more employees for them. We all know how it went. Seems like the investors haven’t learned and the same game is repeated here. Growth at all cost whole ignoring the fundamentals. Take a guess how this will end.