'Hit the jackpot': how investing in Revolut was the best deal for a UK fund

An early investment in fintech startup Revolut turned out to be the Balderton Capital fund's best deal in its 25-year history and one of the most profitable investments in the history of European venture capital, says the Financial Times in an article titled "Billions in a Million: London Venture Capital Fund Hit the Jackpot with Revolut."

UK-based Balderton Capital, which invests in European tech startups, led Revolut's earliest investment round in 2015. In that round, the startup raised £1.5m, of which £1m was given by Balderton, sources told the FT. With the capital raised, Revolut was then valued at £6.7m.

Revolut founder Nikolay Storonsky was able to convince early investors at the startup of the scale of his ambitions and his deep understanding of payments infrastructure, Balderton partner Daniel Waterhouse, who previously served on Revolut's board, told the FT. There was "no nonsense or showmanship" in Storonsky's presentation, he said. "That's one of the reasons it was so successful," the Balderton partner said.

Now Revolut is valued at $75 billion. According to the FT, the fund Balderton Capital, which holds a stake in Revolut, has returned more than 25 times the initial $305 million invested by investors. Over the past year, Balderton Capital has withdrawn about $2 billion from its stake, according to sources. Even after that, it retains a significant portion of its previous stake in the startup, which exceeded 10%. Balderton declined to comment.

Revolut is moving closer to a public offering, which could take place as early as this year, the FT claims. Storonsky himself confirmed late last year in an interview with YouTube channel "It's Ossetian" that the company is considering going public. According to him, this could happen in the perspective of two to three years.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor