Revolut's Private Valuation Reaches $115 Billion, Becoming Europe's Most Valued Startup, Surpassing Barclays and Société Générale
Revolut's private valuation has reached $115 billion, making it the highest valued startup in Europe, surpassing Barclays and Société Générale. Investors are betting that its technology platform can continue to attract customers globally, rather than relying on traditional banking loan profits.
The company's official website shows that the number of customers has reached 80 million, close to JPMorgan's 84 million and higher than HSBC's 41 million. In Ireland, about 80% of the adult population holds a Revolut account. CEO Nik Storonsky has set an expansion path from Mexico to Australia, recently obtaining new licenses, aiming to become one of the few banks capable of retail operations in multiple locations, while traditional institutions like HSBC are shrinking their retail networks.
Pre-tax profit for 2025 is projected to be £1.7 billion, approximately $2.2 billion, which is only a small fraction of Barclays' £9 billion, but the growth rate is rapid. Revenue comes from products such as payments, foreign exchange, and card subscriptions, rather than primarily from lending. By the end of 2025, loans are expected to be only £2.2 billion, with a loan-to-deposit ratio of 6%, compared to HSBC's 55% and Société Générale's 86%. The company states that growth depends on features customers are willing to pay for, rather than interest rates.
Revenue per customer and average deposits are significantly lower than traditional banks, and the usage rate of the main account is still insufficient. The company declined to disclose how many customers will treat it as their main account in 2025, only stating that this number has increased by 45% year-on-year. Alex Immerman, an investor at Andreessen Horowitz, stated that main account penetration and customer balances are key metrics to track. Paulo Macedo, CEO of Portugal's largest bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos, stated in June that 2025 will be the last year this 150-year-old bank's profits exceed those of Revolut.
Currently, the U.S. only has a temporary license, and Konstantin Sidorov, CEO of the London Technology Club, stated that the U.S. could be the largest incremental market and the most competitive market, having invested when the company's valuation was only $5.5 billion. Lithuania previously fined the company for anti-money laundering deficiencies, but the company stated that the investigation did not confirm any instances of money laundering and has settled with the central bank and made corrections. In September, the company mistakenly sent some customer data to hackers impersonating government investigators, stating that the system and customer funds were not affected and has contacted the few affected individuals. In 2024 and 2025, it ranked first among banks in the UK for complaints about fraudulent transfers.
This is a valuation reassessment driven by events, not continuous pricing in the public market. Secondary market buyers are paying for global customer acquisition and licensing options, while early shareholders and employees are selling for liquidity, and the company itself has not supplemented lending capital through this transaction. The beneficiaries are the founding team, employees, and early shareholders holding equity. The pressured parties are the fees of European retail banks and the younger customer base, as well as Revolut's own credit department, which has yet to take off. Expanding loan and deposit volumes will introduce credit risk and local mortgage competition.
Customer balances are expected to grow by 66% to £50.2 billion by 2025, with retail customers reaching 68.3 million by the end of the year, adding approximately 16 million during the year, after which the website number rises to 80 million. The loan portfolio is expected to grow by 120% year-on-year to £2.2 billion, primarily consisting of unsecured personal loans and credit cards, with mortgages still in the early stages. The company's goal is to reach over 100 million customers by mid-2027 and plans to invest £10 billion over the next five years.
Source: Public Information
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Nik Storonsky comes from the trading desks of Lehman and Credit Suisse, and in 2015, he and Vlad Yatsenko turned Revolut into a low-cost currency exchange tool, then leveraged a Lithuanian license to passport banking services into the EU. The full UK license took years to mobilize from application to exit, and it will only be able to lend at scale in the domestic market by March 2026. The valuation path was approximately $33 billion in 2021, $45 billion in 2024, $75 billion in November 2025, and $115 billion in a secondary share sale in 2026. The London Technology Club invested when the valuation was $5.5 billion, and Andreessen Horowitz is now focusing on the main account rather than download numbers.
The $115 billion comes from the transfer of existing shares, not a new round of primary financing. Each share is approximately $2,017, up over 50% from November 2025, with at least hundreds of millions of dollars in shares changing hands, allowing early investors and employees to cash out, but the company does not gain additional lending capital from this transaction. Under the equity rewards triggered by this valuation, Storonsky's holdings could exceed $36 billion. The real resources to be mobilized are the UK credit license, the U.S. charter application, the Australian deposit license, and the planned £10 billion investment over the next five years to convert fee-paying customers into deposit and loan customers. Management is aiming for an IPO around 2028 and is inclined towards the liquidity and tech multiples of the U.S. market.
The path is closer to Brazil's Nubank rather than the UK's Monzo or Starling. Nubank first expanded to tens of millions of users with free accounts, then increased revenue per customer through credit cards and personal loans, and only after going public did its valuation get re-priced based on credit losses and funding costs. Monzo and Starling have stagnated at the tens of millions of customer scale after obtaining licenses, and their valuations have always been constrained by competition for retail deposits in the UK. Revolut is now in a control phase after expansion: it has enough licenses, but lacks main account share and credit balances, with 80 million customers against £2.2 billion in loans, indicating that the platform has not yet transformed into a bank's balance sheet.
This represents a transfer of pricing power. Traditional banks' valuation anchors are net interest margins, loan-to-deposit ratios, and credit costs, while Revolut's buyers are pricing based on customer acquisition costs and cross-product fees, treating unissued loans as options. The mechanism is that the payment entry for the younger customer base has been taken by the application layer, with deposits and interest being deferred. Once the main account and mortgages are scaled up, the pricing anchor will shift back from user numbers to credit losses and capital adequacy ratios, and the multiple of $115 billion to £1.7 billion in profits will no longer be determined solely by technology narratives.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
Customer numbers are the entry point; loan amounts are what make a bank.
Valuation buys options; profits sell stock.
Licenses open markets; main accounts determine pricing power.