FinTech company Revolut has raised an additional $250 million in funding that will see the company increase its valuation five times in less than a year to $1.7 billion.
The London-based digital banking alternative is becoming one of the fastest tech companies in Europe to reach unicorn status, which refers to a start-up valued at over $1 billion.
The new Series C round was led by Hong Kong-based DST Global alongside a portfolio of new and existing investors including other blue-ribbon Silicon Valley investors, Index Ventures and Ribbit Capital.
The latest cash injection brings the total amount raised by Revolut to $340 million since the company launched three years ago.
The new round of capital and surge in valuation follows incredible growth figures to date, with Revolut now processing $1.8 billion through the platform each month and signing up between 6,000 and 8,000 new customers every day.
This gives the company nearly two million customers in total and an ambitious target of 100 million customers in the next five years.
Boasting over 250,000 daily active users, Revolut has been pushing out product at an impressive rate in its mission to convince people to ditch their traditional banks.
In the last few months alone, it has launched features that allow customers to instantly buy and sell cryptocurrencies as well as a savings feature that lets customers round up their daily transactions and save their spare change in a digital Vault.
The new capital will be used to expand Revolut worldwide, starting with the United States, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia in 2018.
Revolut also expects to increase its workforce from 350 to around 800 employees by the end of the year, with a focus on attracting world-class engineers and designers.
“Our focus, since we launched, has been to do everything completely opposite to traditional banks,” said Revolut founder & CEO Nik Storonsky.
“We build world-class tech that puts people back in control of their finances, we speak to our customers like humans and we’re never afraid to challenge old thinking in order to innovate.
“To have DST Global on board is an incredible endorsement of our business strategy as we begin to expand Revolut around the world. Banking has historically avoided disruptions by technology but that is all about to change on a big scale.”
Tom Stafford, managing partner at DST Global, said: “Revolut is developing and delivering technology that reduces the complexity and cost of financial services for consumers and small businesses.
“We are delighted to support Nik and the Revolut team as they continue to innovate, roll out new services and expand geographically.”