Revolut

Revolut is a global money app that includes a debit card (MasterCard), currency exchange, and peer-to-peerpayments.^[3] Revolut currently charges no fees for the majority of its services, and claims to use interbank rates for its currency exchange (except from week-end rates when markets are closed, where a 0.5% markup is added to the Friday rate^[4][5]).

The London-based startup was founded by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko and currently supports spending and ATM withdrawals in 90 currencies and sending in 23 currencies directly from the mobile app.^[6]

The company is based in Level39, a financial technology incubator in Canary Wharf, London.

Revolut launched to the public in July 2015 to increase transparency and fairness by eliminating the high fees previously associated to spending or sending money abroad. Founder, Nikolay Storonsky was travelling a lot and wasting hundreds of pounds on foreign transaction fees and exchange rate commissions which just didn’t feel right. As someone with a financial background he knew exactly the rates he should have been getting. As a solution, he tried to find a multi-currency card and was later told it wasn’t possible. However, he was determined to make it work.^[7]

Revolut provides the following functionality via its mobile app:

• Add funds to Revolut account via a debit card payment
• Foreign exchange between US dollars, UK pounds sterling, and Euros
• Peer-to-peer payments to other users with a Revolut account and to those without a Revolut account via text, Whatsapp or email in 23 currencies

Revolut provides the following functionality via its debit card:

• ATM withdrawals
• Spend funds with merchants which accept MasterCard
• Spend in 90 currencies via the card, the user is automatically converted at the time of each transaction at the best available exchange rate

Fees

Revolut claims to use the spot interbank exchange rate when markets are open. At weekends, when the markets are closed, a fixed rate is used with a small spread (0.5%) between the buy and sell rate.^[5][4]

In February 2016, Revolut introduced a Fair Usage policy, limiting free ATM withdrawals to the equivalent of GBP £500 per calendar month (2% fee above £500), imposing a 3% fee for debit card top-ups in USD, and no longer providing the interbank rate for illiquid currencies such as the Russian Rouble or the Thai Baht.^[8]

There is a postage charge for replacing a lost physical card.

As of June 2016, Revolut is available to legal residents of EU and some of its members' dependency territories. It aims to be available worldwide in the future.^[9]

In July 2015 Revolut announced it had received £1.5 million in venture capital funding from a consortium which included Balderton Capital, Seedcamp, and Venrex Investment Management.

Revolut is top of the charts for the best FX rates, as seen on Which ^[10] and was recognized by industry leaders such as KPMG’s exclusive 2015 list^[11] naming Revolut as 1 of 50 FinTech companies to watch. Revolut was awarded Best Emerging Payments Startup ^[12] and named 1 of 3 favorites at TechCrunch London Disrupt Startup Alley by their top editors.^[13]