Money transfer fintech startup Revolut attracted over £10 million in pledges just ten hours into a seven-day crowdfunding round aimed at raising £1 million.
By Tuesday evening, Revolut pledges had already hit £12.9 million from 6,627 people, all registered users on the app - the main condition to be fulfilled to participate.
The £1 million crowdfunding project comes after a successful £7 million series A round led by Balderton Capital, which drew participation from Ribbit Capital, Index Ventures, Point Nine Capital, Seedcamp and Venrex.
Founded by former Credit Suisse trader Nik Stronsky and launched in July last year, Revolut comprises a mobile app and MasterCard. The company has 200,000 registered users and is currently processing $4 million in transactions per day.
Revolut accounts can currently be topped up in GBP, EUR or USD via debit card or bank transfer. Users can spend in over 100 currencies on the card, send money in 23 currencies directly via the app.
Says Stronsky: “We designed Revolut as a digital challenger to traditional banks and their obscure transaction fees and exchange rate policies."
Revolut earns revenues through splitting a percentage of the MasterCard fee charged to merchants for each card transaction.
The company aims to ensure that loyal customers will have first access to the up-and-coming live investment round. Those who pre-register will be placed in a queue and ranked in descending order by their total number of Revolut contacts. After one week, those who make it to the front of the queue will be given first access to the live Crowdcube page on 18 July.
Successful investors will have exclusive access to a company progress section in the app where they’ll receive direct updates.
“It’s great to know that our users believe as strongly in our product as we do," explains Storonsky. "That’s why we launched this campaign, to thank our users for their dedication and to give people the same opportunity to invest as professional VCs get."