Revolut’s losses in 2019 surged over 200% due to investment in international expansion, Revolut founder and CEO says.
Revolut, a crypto-friendly trading app and one of the biggest fintechs in Europe, reportedly tripled its losses in 2019 despite growth in revenue and new customers.
The London-based company reportedly posted a total loss of more than 106 million British pounds ($139 million), up from about 33 million pounds ($43 million) in 2018.
Nik Storonsky, founder and CEO at Revolut, outlined that the massive losses in 2019 came despite a significant surge in customers, CNBC reports Aug. 11. “We increased daily active customers by 231% and the number of paying customers grew by 139%,” Storonsky noted.
Over the course of 2019, Revolut also saw a sharp increase in revenue. As reported, Revolut’s revenues in 2019 jumped 180% from 58 million pounds ($76 million) in 2018 to nearly $163 million euro ($213 million).
According to Storonsky, the main reasons for the mounting losses were aggressive investment in global expansion and new product offerings. Revolut revealed its ambitious expansion plans in October 2019, announcing its partnership with Visa to grow its services globally across 24 new markets like Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore and the United States.
In August 2019, Revolut also launched a zero-fee stock trading feature to customers in the United Kingdom and Europe in a bid to compete with brokers like Hargreaves Lansdown AJ Bell.
Revolut has been showing apparent signs of difficulties in recent months. In June 2020, the company reportedly fired dozens of employees. While the move was reported to be a cost-saving measure amid the coronavirus-fueled crisis, a new CNBC report says that Revolut’s business momentum has not been affected as the firm added another three million users in 2020 despite the pandemic.
Revolut is not the only crypto-related firm that posted some losses in 2019. As reported by Cointelegraph, Canaan, a Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin (BTC) mining equipment supplier, reported a net loss of $148 million for 2019 earlier this year. Galaxy Digital, a major crypto investment bank founded by ex-Goldman Sachs partner, Mike Novogratz, also continued to see losses in 2019, posting a $33 million loss in Q4 2019.
