Its fintech service was valued at $1.7 billion following the latest round of investment

Fintech company Revolut, founded by Russian natives Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko, was valued at $1.7 billion in its latest round of investment, the company said in a statement. Revolut has raised $250 million, with Yuri Milner’s DST Global fund as the lead investor, said company spokesman Bulat Khabibullin. A little less than three years have passed since the service was launched, and during that time the project has been financed for a total of $340 million.

Nikolai Storonsky owns more than 33% of Revolut, according to the company’s report. Thus, his fortune can be estimated at $561 million, in 2018 to be in the list of the 200 richest businessmen in Russia it was necessary to have a fortune of at least $500 million. In December 2017, the company went to profit, the Revolut release specifies. Vlad Yatsenko’s stake in the project is unknown, but a Forbes venture capital market interlocutor familiar with the Revolut business claimed it was less than Storonsky’s.

Revolut is a mobile app tied to a multicurrency card. It allows you to convert funds from one currency to another at the minimum spreads set in the interbank market. Also in the app you can manage cryptocurrency wallets, send payments anywhere in the world, buy insurance and make deposits.

Revolut operates so far only in the European market, but thanks to the new attractions the service plans to launch in India, Russia, USA, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong as early as this year. The project is also going to get a banking license in Britain, the U.S. and the euro zone.

Revolut has previously tried to work in Russia but failed due to changes in Russian card issuing rules. Now Revolut hopes to get a partner bank and license in Russia, as he said in an interview with “The secret of the firm”.

Storonsky’s goal for the project is to “do things differently than traditional banks”. Fintech and venture capital market experts interviewed by Forbes were quite optimistic about the startup’s capabilities. The advantages of the service for the Russian market lie in the fact that it makes it possible to manage cryptocurrency in an application, which is not provided by any bank, said Mikhail Kozis, head of the analytical group Markswebb.

According to Mikhail Lobanov, managing partner of the Target Global venture capital fund, Revolut’s advantage is its customer base, which is growing quickly and therefore expensive. It could start bringing in good money if the company develops new options, such as credit cards. As Maxfield Capital investment director Alexey Tuknov said, the whole question now is in which new market segments Revolut will be able to consolidate its dominance, as well as whether the company will be profitable in the next 4-5 years.