In October 2017 CEO Nikolay Storonsky’s Revolut raised $71 million at a valuation of $350 million. Today it’s a certified unicorn, approaching a $2 billion valuation.
His stake is said to be worth over $510 million. But not all success is a huge mystery. For Storonsky, working hard is his big secret.
Revolut’s core product is a payment card that boasts super-low fees when spending abroad. But, the company has been slowly adding more and more additional financial services, from insurance to cryptocurrency trading and current accounts.
Revolut is becoming a bank by the back door, and it’s a strategy that’s working. Storonsky is aiming for 100 million customers by 2023 and a succession of new features.
Born in a small town on the outskirts of Moscow, Storonsky boxed as a child and then took up swimming as a teenager before studying for a physics masters degree at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, a top Russian university. He became a state champion swimmer while at university.
His first job was as a trader at Lehman Brothers, which he joined before finishing his degree, while at the same time completing a separate masters in economics at the New Economic School in Moscow. He left Lehman before it collapsed, joining Credit Suisse at the start of 2008. In 2013 he left to set up Revolut.
In just a few years, Revolut has signed up over 2 million customers, processed over $17 billion in transactions and become one of the fastest-growing companies in Europe.
We’re absolutely thrilled to have Storonsky join us at the Disrupt SF conference in September.
The full agenda is here. Passes for the show are available at the early-bird rate until August 1 here.
