Deep Dive: Revolut - One App to Rule Them All

From its scrappy startup days to becoming a true financial super-app, Revolut now boasts over 52 million customers worldwide, handling more than £1 trillion in transactions just last year

TLDR;

Hey everyone, and welcome to a new Deep Dive edition! This time, I took a closer look at Revolut — and wow, what a journey it’s been. From its scrappy startup days to becoming a true financial super-app, Revolut now boasts over 52 million customers worldwide, handling more than £1 trillion in transactions just last year. They’ve built a diversified revenue machine, pulling in money from cards, subscriptions, wealth products, business accounts, and more — with 2024 revenues hitting £3.1 billion and a net profit of £790 million. What stood out to me is how Revolut isn’t just about banking anymore — it’s about lifestyle too, with premium plans like Ultra offering everything from unlimited lounge access to free mobile data via eSIMs. I also loved diving into leadership insights from CEO Nik Storonsky, who shared how Revolut bets on speed, aggressive product launches, and a KPI-driven culture to fuel its massive growth. Plus, a special look at CGO Antoine Le Nel’s refreshingly bold take on why traditional growth metrics like CAC are overrated. All in all, Revolut’s story from 2022 to 2024 is a masterclass in how to scale fast, stay profitable, and build a platform that customers genuinely love — and I can’t wait to see what’s next for them.

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All Things Money, One App

Revolut Annual Report 2024

Revolut has grown from a scrappy fintech startup into a global financial platform boasting tens of millions of users. If you’ve followed fintech, you’ve likely heard Revolut described as a “financial super-app,” aiming to put everything money-related in one place – from everyday banking and payments to investments, crypto, and even phone insurance. The company’s own mission sums it up well: “to simplify all things money, empowering our customers to achieve their financial goals through innovative and effortless banking solutions.” In other words, Revolut wants to make managing money as easy as sending a text.

Scale: How big is Revolut today? By the end of 2024, Revolut’s user base reached about 52.5 million customers worldwide – an astonishing number, considering it had roughly half that just two years prior. In 2024 alone, 14.5 million new customers joined Revolut’s ranks, marking the company as the #1 finance app in 19 countries across Europe (and top 3 in 26 countries) by download metrics. Users aren’t just signing up; they’re actively using the app for more and more of their financial life. In 2024, Revolut processed over £1 trillion in transaction volume, a 52% jump from the previous year, and customer deposits (balances held) grew to £30 billion. These figures underscore that millions now see Revolut as a primary home for their money. The company is also spreading its wings geographically – as of 2024, Revolut is operating as a licensed bank in 30 countries (primarily across Europe, thanks to an EU banking license passport, plus expansions into markets like Australia and others).

Revolut

Such explosive growth hasn’t gone unnoticed by investors either. In 2024, Revolut facilitated a secondary share sale that implied a $45 billion valuation, officially crowning it the most valuable private tech company in Europe. Not bad for a company that started less than a decade ago. Internally, Revolut credits much of its success to what it calls its “Dream Team” culture – essentially, a passionate team of employees relentlessly driving toward ambitious goals. (As the leadership puts it, the dedication of the Revolut team “drive[s] us toward achieving our goals each day”.) While such slogans are common in company reports, there’s no doubt that Revolut’s workforce grew rapidly alongside its customer base – surpassing 8,000 employees globally by 2023, to support its expansion. The company even earned a Great Place to Work certification in 2023, suggesting efforts to balance its high-performance culture with employee well-being.