Image: © MoiraM/Stock.adobe.com
Although it reported losses of £106.5m in 2019, the London-based fintech said it is still confident about breaking even in 2020.
In 2019, fintech unicorn Revolut recorded losses of £106.5m, more than tripling those reported in 2018.
Despite this, the company “remains confident” that it will break even this year, according to the Financial Times. Losses were due to a “massive hiring spree” last year, Revolut said, as it expanded from 633 employees to more than 2,250 and grew its operations in Singapore and the US. Coupled with investment in products, its costs nearly tripled to £270m.
Revolut chair Martin Gilbert said: “Last year was really about putting a structure in place to expand the business, so costs will not grow at anything like that rate this year.”
Earlier this year, Revolut’s co-founders, Nikolay Storonsky and Vladyslav Yatsenko, said they would forgo their wages for one year in response to challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. More than 2,000 employees were offered shares in the company in exchange for a reduced salary on a two-for-one basis.
Revolut ‘moving towards profitability’
CEO Storonsky said that active daily customers had grown by 231pc in 2019, with paying customers jumping by 139pc. Its revenues grew 180pc between 2018 and 2019 and the company almost tripled its user base from 3.5m to 10m. Revolut said in May of this year that it had reached 1m customers in Ireland.
Customer deposits climbed from £890m to £2.3bn by the end of 2019, according to the Financial Times, and the company’s expansion plans will continue in the UK and Europe.
“While we still have some way to go, we are pleased with our progress in 2019,” Storonsky added. “Despite the current economic challenges, we remain focused on our goal of moving towards profitability.” He said that Revolut will focus on reducing its operational costs for the rest of 2020 in a bid to stay on track.
Revolut had suggested earlier this year that it would be expanding operations in Ireland, after appointing former Ulster Bank chief administrative officer Joe Heneghan as CEO of its Irish business last September.
The company has received additional backing from investors in recent months. In July, Revolut raised a further $80m, extending the $500m Series D round that was announced in February.
