EXCLUSIVE. Revolut has 25 million customers and launches in India

Two years ago, he dreamed of making it an “Amazon of banking”. Nikolay Storonsky, the co-founder and boss of the neo-bank Revolut, can rejoice: after two years of pandemic, during which it was necessary to seek profitability as quickly as possible, the strategy of global expansion can once again be considered. And the crazy goals announced in 2020 are once again within reach.

Exclusively for lemon squeezerRevolut announces this morning that it has exceeded 25 million individual customers. The goal of 100 million – what Nikolay Storonsky was aiming for in 2020 – is no longer insurmountable. Sure, it might not be possible by 2025, but still. In two years, 15 million customers have joined what was originally intended to be a free bank for travellers. N26, its German competitor, has not yet passed 10 million accounts (8 million in October 2022)

Since July, 5 million additional new customers have joined the accounts of the neo-bank, which therefore claims a rhythm of opening accounts of one million per month. Card usage has followed this growth, rising from 250 million transactions per month to more than 330 million. The consequences of the continuation of its European deployment. A little over a year ago, Revolut moved into ten new markets: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Revolut has been growing at a rate of one million new customers per month since July 2022

The global rollout is just beginning

You would think that with such a stranglehold on the market, Revolut would have made the most of it. In the rearview mirror, the establishment has already succeeded where its competitor N26 failed: a launch in the United States. But there is still work to be done as only 1.5 million individual users have opened an account there (a volume close to that in France).

The information is exclusive: Revolut will launch in India, Brazil, Mexico and New Zealand in the coming months. The markets are even more voluminous, especially in India and Brazil where the rate of under-banking is high. In Brazil, a local neo-bank called Nu Bank took advantage of the size of the market to quickly become the number one largest neo-bank in the world (65 million customers).

To prepare for these deployments, which should propel Revolut to the goal of 50 million customers, it was necessary to recruit. 400 new employees have already been established in India, 250 positions will be created between Brazil and Mexico by 2025, and the deployment in New Zealand could strengthen the Australian team.

“Revolut’s growth continues at a rapid pace. We continued to expand our unique product offering around the world, entering new markets with new customers. Reaching 25 million customers in just over seven years is a tremendous achievement for the company. We look forward to bringing our products to many more customers in the weeks and months to come,” declares Nikolay Storonsky at the announcement of this information exclusively for lemon squeezer.

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Revolut’s new strategy

With the arrival of the pandemic, which greatly slowed down the possibilities of deployment and the use of bank cards, the neo-banks had to abandon their race for volume to find profitability. They started to monetize their customers, Revolut launched its premium cards available by subscription. An offer today consisting of three cards in addition to the free card.

The strategy has therefore changed and we are far from neo-banks with free cards exclusively focused on travel and the most basic use: namely paying. Revolut is now a full-fledged bank that could even get into the mortgage market, in addition to being a company close to the crypto-currency universe (and who also wants to launch its own token). For professionals too, Revolut is increasingly serious.

A few days ago, Revolut returned to the subject of Revolut Business and Revolut Pro by officially launching its new mobile payment terminal in France, at reduced prices compared to the competition. Its costs per transaction are indeed very low: at 0.8% commission (+ €0.02) and a single cost for the machine of 49 euros (the only competitor, the French Stancer). To date, Revolut does not communicate on the number of professional customers but they would be “several hundred thousand”.