One of the founders of London-headquartered FinTech firm Revolut has been named the first tech start-up billionaire in Britain.
Nikolay Storonsky, CEO, co-founded the firm, which began life as a pre-paid travel card, in 2014 and has since gained a net worth of £1.06bn based on his holding in the company.
The new estimates come from The Telegraph’s Tech Hot 100 ranking, which used UK company filings, provided by Beauhurst, along with its own reporting to compiled the data.
The FinTech firm offers features which have become standard among digital-only banking rivals Starling and Monzo, including current and business accounts, stock trading and cryptocurrency services.
Earlier this year in February it raised £387m ($500m) from US investors, bringing its valuation to £4.3bn and making it one of the world’s most valuable FinTechs.
The raise brought the total invested in the company to approx £650m ($836 million).
However in August this year it was revealed that 2019 losses had more than trebled despite a huge increase in revenue.
The London FinTech reported a loss of £106.5 million in 2019, compared to £32.8m in 2018. Revenue almost trebled, reaching £162.7m from £58.2m in 2018.
It blamed the mounting losses on geographical and product expansion, with Australia its latest full international launch.
Before coronavirus, it had planned to expand into Japan, Russia, the US, South America and Asia this year and to grow its headcount.
Earlier this month CNBC reported that the firm is now rumoured to be in the process of applying for a US banking licence.
The Department for International Trade also named the firm as a potential benefactor of a ‘free flow of data’ with Japan resulting from the UK’s new Free Trade Agreement with the country.
The firm has 2,000 people in 23 offices, and has over 10 million customers globally, having processed more than 1bn transactions worth over $130bn.