Revolut’s valuation jumps 53% to $115B in new share sale as it prepares to launch US bank, and more

0:01This is TechCrunch.

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0:50So you can focus on other important things, like savoring that last bit of pumpkin pie. From early startups to Fortune 500 companies, thousands are turning to Framer to build a website they'll love. Learn how you can get more out of your site from a Framer specialist or get started building for free today at framer.com slash tcstartups for 30 % off a Framer Pro annual plan. That's framer.com slash tcstartups for 30 % off. Rules and restrictions may apply. Revolut's investors have completed a secondary share sale that values the British fintech at$115 billion, 53 % more than the price tag it had gained in another share sale a year ago, as the company prepares to launch a U.S.

1:38bank next year. Investors including Gladebrook Capital Partners, KOTU Durable Capital Partners, T. Rowe Price Associates, and Bailey Gifford led the share sale, which brought no new money into Revolut. The company declined to say how much stock was sold. Founded back in 2015, Revolut has grown from a money transfer app into a financial services platform with more than 80 million retail customers across over 40 countries. It has established banking operations across Europe and launched banks in the UK, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand this year, as well as secured banking licenses in France, Colombia, and Argentina.

2:21The company also began rolling out financial services in India earlier this year and has received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national bank, which it plans to launch in the first half of next year, subject to final regulatory approval. The London-based company has grown increasingly profitable, achieving profit margins of 38 % on revenue of$6 billion last year. Even though Revolut has built much of its business around consumers, its business banking division launched in 2017 has become an increasingly lucrative endeavor. The division accounts for about 20 % of Revolut's gross profit, according to James Gibson, head of Revolut Business and a partner at the company.

3:10Available across Europe, the UK, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and the US, Revolut Business processes more than$48.6 billion in transactions each month, including around$1.3 billion in the US alone. The division generates more than$1.2 billion in annualized revenue and holds more than$24.3 billion in customer deposits. Nearly half of Revolut Business' new customers in the U.S. are newly incorporated companies. Revolut is looking to bring its business banking services to more markets, including Mexico, Brazil, and India. Though Gibson did not specify when the company expects all that to happen, the fintech also aims to grow its business customer base from over 800 ,000 businesses to a million by next year.

4:00The company's rising valuation comes as it weighs a public listing. An IPO, which could reportedly value Revolut at$200 billion, would come no earlier than 2028, depending on market conditions.

4:18More than 118 million users watch microdramas every month as the serialized format has taken off in India. Elo Elo's Story TV is one of the top apps for micro-dramas, with over 33 million active users. Banking on that scale, the company has raised$80 million in a Series C from Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal. This round brings its total fundraising to$130 million, with a valuation of$500 million. As people spend more time on platforms hosting verticalized videos, serialized content has become popular in multiple geographies, including the U.S., China, and India, with Hollywood celebrities like Issa Rae, James Franco, and Kim Kardashian investing in and starring in the format.

5:11Given India's massive internet population of more than a billion and the country's appetite for entertainment content, it presents a big market opportunity, with analysts expecting the industry to cross$3-4 billion in annual revenue by 2030. Last year, dedicated apps like StoryTV, CuckooTV, and QuickTV were among the top downloaded video streaming apps in the country. Founded back in 2020, the StoryTV platform has taken off in the last few years, with a catalog log of over 5 ,000 titles in six languages. And the company says that's because of the snackable content format. Users log 95 minutes on the app on average through multiple sessions in a day.

5:57The company's CEO said, I fundamentally believe that the next billion users will probably not grow up on a diet of watching television. They will grow up on a diet of watching content on their phones, right? And this content has to be, and this entertainment, designed very differently. It's not going to be appointment viewing. It's going to be within certain slots throughout the day. A lot of this was earlier solved for short clips, but serialized storytelling was never solved. Now, that CEO still believes that there still will be a place for big screen viewing with family or friends, but the majority of entertainment consumption will be through mobile.

6:35All micro drama platforms compete against platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. where creators are posting content for free. Some of them are also creating a way for creators to post serialized content. Now, the folks at Elo Elo think that producing quality content on the platform will entice users to choose story TV over other free platforms. The company points to its partnerships, such as the one with Indian TV production company, Balaji Telefilms, to produce content. The company offers different kinds of subscriptions, ranging from monthly, quarterly, and yearly to unlocked content.

7:16It also offers some free content supported by ads, which might not be as lucrative a medium to make money as subscriptions. Monetization is a challenge in India, though, as users often stick around for free content, but few convert to paid users. A report from analyst firm Redseer, indicates that more than 40 million people have paid for microdrama at least once, but only 15 to 17 million users pay for it on a monthly basis. A separate survey by Ormax Media suggested that 72 % of people have not ever paid while consuming microdrama. Besides microdramas, the company also has a vertical video learning app called Master, competing with the likes of Seaco and Cuckoo's Guru and an AI companion app, Voxy AI.

8:05The company said that it has more than 40 million monthly users across its apps. While it did not bifurcate users by app, the majority of users belong to StoryTV. Elo Elo currently has 240 people and wants to hire to increase the size of its AI and machine learning research team. The company is also deploying a good chunk of its capital to produce more original titles. That's all for now. For the latest in startup tech news, go to TechCrunch.com.

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