London FinTech Revolut Triples Revenue Against Doubled Losses

London FinTech Revolut posted increased revenues and gross profits for year-end 2020, but also incurred higher operating losses last year as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold worldwide, the company said in a press release on Monday (June 21).

The British startup, which launched seven years ago, generated a 57 percent increase in adjusted revenues to £261 million ($363.5) in 2020, up from £166 million in 2019. Gross margin also was up by 49 percent for the year. Gross profits surged by 215 percent, going from £39 million in 2019 to £123 million ($171.3 million) in 2020.

Full-year adjusted operating losses increased to £122 million from £98 million amid an increase in administrative costs to £266 million from £125 million in 2019, according to the company’s annual report for year-end 2020. Total comprehensive losses for the year went up to £168 million from £107 million in 2019.

“As the extraordinary circumstances of 2020 drove the trend toward digital financial management, we continued to innovate for customers to make their financial lives easier and accelerate daily use,” said Nikolay Storonsky, co-founder and CEO of Revolut.

“We launched 24 new retail and business products, expanded into the U.S., Japan and Australia. and launched banking services in Lithuania, all while significantly improving our profitability,” he said. “We began 2021 with a more resilient and productive business that will enhance our trajectory toward rapid growth.”

Revolut is also in talks for a funding round that could boost the FinTech’s valuation to at least $20 billion, Bloomberg reported. Details of the potential fundraise were not disclosed, according to Bloomberg, who cited “people familiar with the matter.”

It was earlier reported that Revolut could be valued as high as $10 billion following another funding round. Its Series D in February raised $500 million at a $5.5 billion valuation.

Revolut grew its customer base to 14.5 million individuals — a 45 percent increase over 2019’s 10 million — and also boosted its base of business clients to 500,000.

“Revenue increased by more than 130 percent vs. Q1 2020, with growth observed in every business line, though particularly strong performance marked by our wealth and trading team,” Chief Financial Officer Mikko Salovaara said in the release. “Gross profit grew by more than 300 percent vs. Q1 2020, with meaningful gross margin expansion driven by our product mix and continued ownership mentality on cost control. Adjusted operating and net income margins were above 30 percent. We have continued to grow our retail customer base and finished the quarter serving 15.5 million personal customers.”

Last month, Revolut launched retail features and the ability to shop using cryptocurrency. The FinTech also added new tools for peer-to-peer money transfers.