UK fintech firm firm Revolut saw losses almost double last year as it pushed out more services to an increasingly global customer base.
In 2019 Revolut reported a tripling of losses to £106.5 million, despite a sharp rise in revenues and customers. The cost of running the business has put further pressure on the bottom line, with losses for 2020 reaching over £207 million.
The firm - which is rumoured to be preparing a new $250 million fundraising round at a valuation of between $10 billion and $15 billion - put an optimistic gloss on the latest set of figures, pointing to a significant upturn in revenues to £222 million, driven by lockdown spending during the pandemic and sharp uptake of its newly-launched cryptocurrency operation.
The company said it made £39m on its cryptocurrency investments last year, with crypto service offerings to customer now accounting for almost 20% of revenue.
Cutsomer numbers are also up to 14.5 million from 10 million at the end of 2019, while deposits held in customer accounts grew by 96%t to £4.6bn compared to £2.4bn in December 2019
Nik Storonsky, CEO and co-founder of Revolut, says: “We launched 24 new retail and business products, expanded into the US, Japan and Australia and launched banking services in Lithuania, all while significantly improving our profitability. We began 2021 with a more resilient and productive business that will enhance our trajectory towards rapid growth.”
Revolut, which has yet to publish a profit in its seven-year history, reports that it moved into the black in the last two months of 2020, a trend which is continuing into the first quarter.