"$1 Trillion Big Tech Emerges in Europe: The Rise of This Company [Tech Talk]"

Revolut Expected to Reach $1 Trillion by 2035
Evolving Into a 'Super App' Covering All Aspects of Financial Life
Transforming Europe’s Startup Culture Beyond Just a Company

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"Revolut will become a $1 trillion (approximately KRW 1,400 trillion) company."

'Balhound Capital,' a UK-based tech-focused investment firm, made this declaration at the end of last month as it released a report running dozens of pages. The company highlighted by Balhound, Revolut, is a global fintech firm headquartered in the UK that has been rapidly growing in Europe, a region once considered a barren land for tech industries. Revolut is not just another company; it is seen as a firm expected to fundamentally change the chronic corporate culture that has been holding Europe back.

The UK’s First-Generation Fintech, Now a Global Digital Bank

Revolut's new office building in Canary Wharf, London, UK. It is the first tech company to move into this location where global investment banks are gathered. Revolut YouTube

Revolut is a fintech company founded in 2015 by Nick Storonsky, a Russian-born British immigrant and billionaire entrepreneur. As a digital bank that offers all services through a smartphone application without any physical branches, Revolut is a pioneer and is one of the first-generation fintech companies in the UK. At one point, it was even mentioned as a role model for Korea’s Toss Bank.

Revolut initially gained its reputation as an app that helped immigrants from Eastern Europe and other regions exchange currency in the UK. As its popularity grew, Revolut received early-stage investment of $10 million from Balhound. Although its beginnings were modest, Revolut is now a global fintech company with 75 million customers worldwide. The company's valuation stands at a staggering $115 billion (approximately KRW 162 trillion), with revenues of GBP 4.5 billion (approximately KRW 8.6 trillion) and operating profit of GBP 1.7 billion (approximately KRW 3.2474 trillion) as of last year.

Even as a giant corporation, Revolut continues its hyper-growth. Its sales growth target for this year is set at more than 50% year-on-year, and the company is striving to secure 100 million customers. Revolut has established its European headquarters in France and is expanding into the United States and Latin America, moving beyond its home market in the UK.

A Non-Bureaucratic Organizational Culture as a Strength

Revolut founder Nick Stronski. Screenshot from X

Revolut’s competitive edge lies in its so-called ‘super app’ ecosystem. With a single Revolut app, it integrates a diverse range of services: from basic banking tasks such as currency exchange, deposits, and loans to investment, asset management, financial advice, travel, and shopping. The chat feature called ‘Revolut Chat’ covers social networking (SNS) functions, and its agent AI called AIR automates many of its features.

Despite having tens of thousands of employees, Revolut remains agile, thanks to its uniquely dynamic organizational culture. The Revolut app is renowned for the rapid launch, replacement, or removal of various features. Small teams of five to ten employees independently plan and launch minimum viable products (MVPs)—if a clear result is achieved, the team receives more support from management, but if results fall short of expectations, the team is dissolved. This system is the secret behind Revolut’s ascent to a global company in just about a decade.

Balhound explains, "By 2035, Revolut’s customer base is expected to exceed 270 million, with revenues reaching $84 billion (approximately KRW 118 trillion). While Revolut’s formula for success may look complex, it is actually very simple: Revolut succeeded in both product diversity and revenue generation—something competitors only focus on one at a time."

Changing Europe’s Corporate Culture

To the European continent, Revolut is not just another promising tech company. Thanks to Revolut, the competitiveness of tech industry hubs across the UK and Europe is rapidly improving. This effect stems from Revolut’s distinctive approach to recruitment, organizational culture, and business strategy, which are now spreading to other startups.

As Balhound notes, "Revolut approaches recruitment like engineering. Each year, 1.7 million applicants go through interviews, but the acceptance rate is only 0.15%. This level of talent concentration rivals Google, and as a result, those who have worked at Revolut often become successful entrepreneurs. To date, Revolut alumni entrepreneurs have raised $1.2 billion (approximately KRW 1.7 trillion) in investment." In the UK, these founders are referred to as the ‘Revolut Mafia.’

A prime example is British entrepreneur Alan Chang, who left Revolut and went on to found an energy tech company called Fuse Energy in 2022. In just three years, Fuse Energy surpassed $300 million (approximately KRW 425 billion) in revenue, with company valuation recognized at $5 billion (approximately KRW 7 trillion). Like Revolut, Fuse Energy’s strengths are its rapid product development and agile, flexible business strategies—hallmarks of the European tech model.

In an interview with British business media outlet City AM, Chang emphasized, "Revolut will become a $1 trillion company, and its current valuation is merely a stepping stone to that figure. Thanks to Revolut, UK entrepreneurs are now able to harbor even greater ambitions."

While he remained cautious about whether the UK could produce big tech companies to rival those in the US, he stated, "We’ll have to wait and see, but Revolut is already delivering tangible results, and I believe we should follow in its footsteps."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.