This fintech startup has shaken off Brexit to raise millions more

By Lynsey Barber for CityAM

UK fintech startup Revolut has raised millions of pounds of new funding from top Silicon Valley investors and plans to raise further cash via crowdfunding, shaking off worries over a Brexit slowdown in tech investment.

The year-old currency transfer app has raised up to £6.75m from Ribbit Capital along with existing seed investors Balderton Capital, Index Ventures, Point Nine Capital, Venrex and Seedcamp.

A crowdfunding campaign will kick off with the goal of raising a further £1m from the public, which Revolut’s founder said would give customers the same opportunity for a piece of the company as institutional investors.

The campaign on Crowdcube will also offer earlier access to the investment to the most active Revlout users who can pre-register from today. The app, which also includes a Mastercard, has more than 200,000 users and handled more than half a billion dollars worth of transfers.

“We are confident that this company will exceed expectations, even in an unpredictable environment in Europe,” said Balderton’s general partner Daniel Waterhouse.

“The positive feedback from consumers has been overwhelming; the speed of company and product development has been rapid; the plans for the future very exciting.”

The appetite of venture capital investors for UK startup investments post-Brexit has been a worry for the tech industry. Some are bullish, saying that the fall in sterling could make the UK more attractive to funds outside the UK, however, others in the industry have indicatedsome planned rounds of funding have been put on hold amid the uncertainty.

UK cyber security startup Darktrace also shook off concerns, raising $65m from a top Wall Street private equity group, among others, a fortnight after Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.

The series A funding – £7.75m in total – brings the total raised to more than £11.6m.

First appeared at CityAM