Fintech-company Revolut, founded by natives of Russia Nikolay and Vladimir Yantseva, in the last round of investment was estimated at $ 1.7 billion, the company said. Revolut attracted $ 250 million, the lead investor was Yuriy Milner's fund DST Global, the company's spokesman Bulat Khabibullin said. Since the launch of the service, a little less than three years have passed, and during this time the project was financed for a total of $ 340 million.
Nikolay Storovsky owns over 33% of Revolut, the company said in a statement. Thus, his fortune can be estimated at $ 561 million, in 2018, to get on the list of the 200 richest businessmen in Russia, it was necessary to have a fortune of at least $ 500 million. In December 2017, the company entered a profit, it is specified in the release of Revolut. Vlad Yatsenko's share in the project is unknown, but the Forbes interlocutor in the venture market, familiar with the Revolut business, argued that it is less than that of the Party.
Revolut is a mobile application tied to a multi-currency card. It allows you to convert funds from one currency to another according to the minimum spreads set on the interbank market. Also in the application you can manage cryptotices, send payments to anywhere in the world, buy insurance and make deposits.
Revolut still works only in the European market, but thanks to new attracting services this year plans to launch in India, Russia, USA, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. The project also intends to obtain a banking license in the UK, the US and the euro area.
Earlier Revolut had already tried to work in Russia, but failed due to changes in the rules for issuing cards in the country. Now Revolut hopes to acquire a partner bank and license in Russia, as he said in an interview with the publication "The Secret of the Firm".
The Party's goal is to "do everything differently than traditional banks". Forbes interviewed by experts in the field of fi nitech and the venture market was optimistic enough about the startup opportunities. The advantages of the service for the Russian market are that it allows you to manage the crypto currency in the application, which is not provided by any bank, said Mikhail Kozis, head of the analytical group Markswebb.
According to Mikhail Lobanov, managing partner of Target Global Venture Fund, Revolut's advantage is a client base, which is growing rapidly and therefore is expensive. It can start to bring good money if the company develops new options, for example, for issuing credit cards. As Maxfield Capital's investment director Alexei Tukhno said, now the whole question is in what new segments of the market Revolut will be able to consolidate the dominance, and whether the company will be profitable in the next 4-5 years.