Revolut may float in London, boss tells MoS

REVOLUT is considering a London Stock Exchange listing after becoming the most valuable tech company ever in Britain, the MoS can reveal.

The financial ‘super app’ last week fetched a blockbuster valuation of $33billion (£24billion), bigger than

NatWest, after an $800 million fundraising from private equity giants Softbank and Tiger Global. The $33billion price tag is six times bigger than its last funding round early last year, when founder Nikolay Storonsky, 36, became one of Britain’s youngest billionaires.

A listing in the City would be a huge boost for Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s plans to make London the go-to venue for fast-growing firms.

Speaking exclusively to the MoS following a week of speculation on the firm’s plans, Revolut’s chairman Martin Gilbert said: ‘If we ever did list, we’d love to list in London. To be fair to the London Stock Exchange, and the Treasury, they’re making it easier and easier for us to list in London rather than having to go to Nasdaq in the future. The Treasury and the Stock Exchange are trying to make London the most attractive

place to list.’ However, he ruled out a listing this year and said there were ‘no immediate plans’.

The Government published two reviews earlier this year, led by Lord Jonathan Hill and former Worldpay boss Ron Kalifa, to lure tech entrepreneurs to Britain. They called for firms to be allowed to have ‘dual class shares’, which would give founders more voting rights over ordinary shareholders and help them fend off takeovers.

Gilbert, who set up Aberdeen Asset Management in 1983, said: ‘The dual class shares would be important. Founders are always worried about losing control.’

Rival payments app Wise listed in London last month with a value of £9billion and with dual class shares, although under current rules it was not able to list on the ‘premium’ part of the Stock Exchange, where shares are included in indexes such as the FTSE100.

According to the Revolut pitch documents, seen by this newspaper, the new funds will help expand its offer in the US and its entry into India and other markets. It said the mobile app is now the world’s fourth most valuable fintech.

Revolut began as a travel card providing low-cost foreign currencies. It now has 16million customers and provides other financial services including crypto currency trading.

But analysts have questioned how Revolut achieved a £24 billion valuation when it had an annual loss of £168 million last year. Gilbert said Revolut posted a profit in the first few months of the year.