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Revolut employees and early investors have offloaded nearly $1 billion worth of shares since August, after the fintech's U.K. banking license garnered support from major financial institutions and received a $45 billion valuation.
The London-based group has twice extended its so-called secondary share sale, which initially allowed only current employees to sell shares, to enable some of its early backers and former employees to benefit from parts of their holdings.
The sale, which began a month after Revolut was granted a long-awaited UK banking license, has attracted a group of institutional investors, including Abu Dhabi sovereign investor Mubadala, which has taken a stake for the first time.
Company founder and CEO Nick Storonsky The Financial Times reported earlier that investors received between $200 million and $300 million in the first round.
Early venture capital investors sold $500 million worth of shares in the second round of the sale, people familiar with the matter said. Total stock sales are now expected to exceed $1 billion, they added. Revolut declined to comment.
The turnover, which enables employees and early investors to crystallize some of their paper wealth, underscores Revolut's rise from fintech startup to serious banking competitor, as well as the consequences of companies staying private for longer.
Large secondary stock sales are becoming a more popular way to monetize investments in companies and capitalize on the increasing value of successful startups.
tapethe privately held payments group, allowed employees in February to divest about $1 billion in shares at a $65 billion valuation by selling to institutional investors including venture firm Sequoia Capital.
Sequoia has since bought more shares in the Dublin- and San Francisco-based company through more secondary sales that raised Stripe's valuation to $70 billion.
Revolut has spent more than three years in limbo awaiting its UK banking licence, and has suffered a series of mishaps including a qualifying audit of its 2021 accounts that have restricted its appeal to investors.
The approval of the license application this summer paved the way for a rush of new investors looking to back the fast-growing financial app. Wealthy clients of private bank Goldman Sachs were among those to join the shareholder register in a second round of share sale this year.
Revolut received a portion of the proceeds from certain stock sales. The former employees had to pay a 2 percent transaction fee for the sale, which is higher than the 1.5 percent fee charged in the 2021 fundraiser.
The fee was designed to cover the company's costs in managing the stock sale, and Revolut did not make a profit from the transactions, one of the people familiar with the matter said.
