The billionaire founder of Revolut has reaped a £350m windfall from the disposal of shares in the fintech giant after the company extended a deal to allow existing investors to offload part of their holdings.
Sky News has learnt that Nik Storonsky has sold well over $400m (£330m) of stock in the digital banking and payments group as part of an ongoing secondary share sale.
Sources close to Revolut said on Monday that the final proceeds to Mr Storonsky could be even higher once the secondary round closes.
The windfall is one of the largest struck by a European tech founder for years and underlines the rapid growth of Revolut, which was founded only a decade ago and now boasts a $45bn valuation.
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Sky News reported last autumn that Mr Storonsky was selling up to $300m of shares during a period in which the share sale was only open to current employees of the company.
It was subsequently expanded to enable early investors to dispose of shares, with the current total having been sold in this round now exceeding $1bn, according to insiders.
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Mr Storonsky’s stake in Revolut has been estimated to be worth in the region of $8bn.
Prominent technology investors including the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, Coatue and D1 Capital Partners joined the ranks of Revolut’s investors in the latest round.
Several thousand Revolut employees are said to have participated in the share sale.
“We’re delighted to provide the opportunity to our employees to realise the benefits of the company’s collective success,” Mr Storonsky said in August.
“It’s their hard work, innovation and dedication that has driven us to become the most valuable private technology company in Europe.”
A Revolut spokesman declined to comment on the extent of Mr Storonsky’s participation in the secondary share sale.
The deal cemented his status as one of the world’s wealthiest technology company bosses.
The news of his larger-than-reported share sale comes several months after the fintech app secured a long-awaited banking licence from British regulators – a process which had been mired in uncertainty for years.
Mr Storonsky had been publicly critical of the delay.
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Although the fintech, which has more than 40 million customers, did not raise new capital as part of the transaction, it was still closely watched across the global fintech sector.
Revolut recently revealed record earnings of £438m last year on revenues which nearly doubled to £1.8bn.
Founded in 2015, it has experienced a string of regulatory and compliance challenges, with reports last year highlighting its release of funds from accounts flagged by the National Crime Agency as suspicious.
The company’s growth has taken place at breakneck speed, with customer numbers soaring from 16.4 million at the point of the Series E fundraising nearly three years ago.
Attention is now shifting to when and where Revolut will decide to become a public company.
New York is expected to be the preferred choice of its board and leading investors, with Mr Storonsky suggesting that London would be an illogical listing venue for a company of Revolut’s profile.
A similar debate is likely to take place at other British-based tech success stories, including Monzo, the digital bank.
Revolut is chaired by Martin Gilbert, the City veteran who has faced governance and performance challenges at AssetCo, the London-listed asset manager he runs.
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Its other directors include Michael Sherwood, the former Goldman Sachs executive who was jointly responsible for its operations outside the US and who was regarded as one of the most skilled traders of his generation.
