Revolut founder Storonsky saw ‘up to £230m’ windfall in employee share sale

Revolut’s billionaire founder and chief executive Nik Storonsky reportedly sold up to $300m (£230m) worth of his stake in the fintech during an employee share sale last month.

Storonsky’s shares accounted for between 40 per cent and 60 per cent of the stock offloaded in the roughly $500m (£383m) secondary share sale that finished in August, according to media reports.

That would mean he offloaded somewhere between $200m (£153m) and $300m (£230m) worth of his holding in the London-based banking app.

Still, the figure represents just a small portion of Storonsky’s overall stake, estimated to be worth in the region of $8bn (£6bn).

Revolut declined to comment when approached by City A.M.

The sale valued Revolut at $45bn (£34.9bn), cementing its status as both Europe’s most valuable private technology company and one of Britain’s biggest banks.

It is understood that several thousand of Revolut’s staff participated in the share sale, which the company said last month was designed “to provide employee liquidity”.

Coatue, D1 Capital Partners and Tiger Global were among the investors to buy shares from employees.

Revolut was founded in 2015 as a digital payments and money transfer app in the UK before expanding globally and offering a range of services, from cryptocurrency trading to an eSIM plan.

It booked a record pretax profit of £438m in 2023 on the back of higher interest rates and attracting almost 12m new retail customers over the year. The firm expects its global user base to surpass 50m customers by the end of this year. 

Revolut’s challenge to high street lenders received another boost earlier this summer when it secured a UK banking licence, subject to temporary restrictions, after more than three years in regulatory limbo amid audit issues, criticism of its corporate culture and the delayed filing of its accounts.

The licence allows Revolut to directly hold deposits and increase lending in its home market, where it boasts more than nine million customers. It is also expected to help Revolut’s chances of securing a licence in the US.

Revolut is also looking ahead to the possibility of a public listing, reportedly favouring the Nasdaq in New York rather than the London Stock Exchange.