Revolut’s India plan starts with a $25 million investment and possibly, a fintech acquisition

• The $5.5 billion fintech company Revolut, which is also one of Europe’s largest startups, is eyeing India as its new market.
• Revolut offers everything from money transfer and exchange, to stock trading, wealth management, loans, peer-to-peer payments and even cryptocurrency trading.
• The company is also ready to go through the acquisition way in India, if need be.

The $5.5 billion fintech company Revolut, which is also one of Europe’s largest startups, is eyeing the India market now. Revolut offers everything from money transfer and exchange, to stock trading, wealth management, loans, peer-to-peer payments and even cryptocurrency trading, which will not be offered in India.

The digital banking and financial services startup is looking to enter India with an initial investment of $20-25 million, according to its co-founder Nikolay Storonsky who spoke to Business Insider in an exclusive interview.


Founded in 2015 and headquartered in London, the startup has built a strong presence in several countries and is also looking for a banking licence in the US. Revolut claims that it has over 13 million users. In 2019, the company reported revenue of £162.7 million and its losses stood at £107.4 million.

And as it looks to enter India -- one of the biggest technology markets with a $100 billion fintech opportunity as per Boston Consulting Group and FICCI -- it has a plan.

“Revolut will soon apply for a payments and trade licence in India, and later will look at expanding to heavy weight operations like banking,” said Storonsky.

While the company is looking to launch in India by the end of 2021, it will start with its free products and hopes to generate good revenue from the same to launch subscription models later.

In Europe, the company has four subscription plans, which gives users a Revolut banking card, cashback on payments, enables international payments among other things.

The company is also ready to go through the acquisition way, if need be. “There are multiple reasons why we would acquire a fintech player in India. First of the reasons is because of licence, when you enter a new market you always have a choice, you either partner with someone or you get your own licence. If you have a product that takes a long time to get a licence, in that case we may partner. We are still investigating all possibilities, but most likely will go through the organic route by applying for our own licenses,” said Storonsky.

In India, the startup will face competition from the likes of Paytm, Razorpay, PhonePe and even stock broking apps like IndMoney, Groww among others

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