Revolut is a UK-based online banking startup that is planning to expand into India.
The London-based company announced on Thursday that it has hired Paroma Chatterjee, a former executive at Indian startups Flipkart, Via.com and Lendingkart, to lead its operations in the country.
Revolut will invest around $25 million in the Indian market over the next five years and plans to launch its app there by 2022. The company, valued at $5.5 billion in its most recent funding round, has raised more than $900 million from investors to date.
“As we bring our products and services to more people around the world, we look forward to changing the way Indians access and manage money,” said Nik Storonsky, CEO and co-founder of Revolut.
“India is a core market for our expansion strategy with a wealth of talent, and we are excited to leverage this talent pool to help Revolut grow.”
Revolut said it will employ 300 people at its Indian subsidiary, which will be the company’s global hub of operations. So far, it has recruited heads of operations and legal, aiming to fill numerous other roles in human resources, marketing and compliance.
Global expansion
With a population of 1.3 billion, India’s growing acceptance of digital payments will be a huge market for Revolut.
Founded in 2015, the company initially offered cheap travel-focused currency exchange transactions, but has since rolled out more features, including stock trading and cryptocurrencies.
It is one of several digital banks in Europe aiming to compete with the big incumbents with branchless banking. Others include UK peer Monzo, German rival N26 and US startup Chime.
Revolut has expanded into Asia in countries such as Japan and Singapore, looking to tap into India’s fast-growing remittance market. The company is in talks with the Reserve Bank of India and some local banks to secure the licenses and partnerships it needs to launch.
The launch of Revolut in India will also compete with SoftBank-backed fintech Paytm, which many Indians use to make payments by scanning QR codes.
Revolut said it aims to become a global bank, even with an ambitious launch in China, a competitive fintech market. The company is reportedly in talks to raise fresh capital in a funding round that could value it as high as $15 billion to accelerate its international expansion.
The company has had mixed success in North America. It launched in the US last year and has since amassed 150,000 customers, and is now seeking a banking license in the country.
But Revolut then announced in February that it would withdraw from Canada after an initial 18-month trial of the service in Canada.
Revolut lost £106.5 million ($148.4 million) in 2019 and recently told CNBC it managed to break even in November. The company is expected to release its 2020 financial results by the end of the spring.
Complete News Source : CNBC
