Investor slashes Revolut valuation

Molten Ventures, a tech-focused investment firm, has taken a 40% writedown on its stake in British fintech company Revolut, dealing another blow to the struggling company. Based on Revolut’s last publicly shared valuation of $33 billion in 2021, the writedown would imply a valuation of approximately £15.6 billion ($19.8 billion). However, the actual valuation is based on Molten’s undisclosed internal assessment of Revolut in March 2022 and March 2023.

Molten Ventures, which owns less than 5% of Revolut, valued its stake at £91.3 million in March 2022. However, its recently published full-year results value the stake at £54.5 million as of March 2023. The venture capital firm, formerly known as Draper Esprit, initially invested $16.5 million in Revolut in April 2018 when the company was valued at $1.7 billion.

The writedown follows a challenging period for Revolut, with auditor BDO stating that it was unable to independently verify 75% of the company’s 2021 revenue. Additionally, Revolut’s application for a UK banking license is currently uncertain. In April, investment bank Schroders reduced the valuation of its shareholding in Revolut by almost half, valuing the company at $15 billion. Revolut’s most recent internal valuation has not been disclosed publicly.

Revolut’s co-founder and CEO, Nikolay Storonsky, has criticized regulators for delaying the company’s banking license application. Despite these setbacks, Revolut claims to have reached 30 million customers worldwide. Molten Ventures’ portfolio also includes British semiconductor design company Graphcore, which experienced a 67% drop in valuation from £113.5 million to £37.2 million. The challenging market conditions have led to significant writedowns in the tech sector, affecting both public and private tech valuations.

Molten Ventures declined to comment on the matter. However, CEO Martin Davis expressed the need for more clarity from Revolut, stating that their valuations are not based on newspaper reports but that the market requires better transparency from the fintech company.