Sifted - What's next for Revolut?

Good morning there,

Who said the summer is slow? Today we unpack the news that Revolut has its long-awaited UK banking licence — and Lithuania’s national bank has blocked payments fintech Kevin from serving any new clients.

The latest episode of the Sifted podcast has also just dropped. Heidi Lindvall, partner at Swedish climate tech VC Pale Blue Dot, sits down with editor Amy Lewin to talk about what types of climate tech companies she doesn’t need to see any more of, why we need to start investing in tech ‘for a new world’ and how to balance VC investing with having a newborn — you can listen here.

Elsewhere today:

• What does GB Energy mean for climate tech?
• 20 advanced materials startups to watch 
• Serial entrepreneurs who've founded again in 2024

P.S. Applications for our Germany leaderboard — which ranks the country’s fastest-growing startups by revenue — close on August 2. Founders, if you think your company should be on there, or VCs, if you have portfolio companies that you think should make the cut, apply here.

— Tom Nugent, newsletter editor

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A good year for Revolut 

We imagine the Revolut leadership team were nursing quite the hangover after they finally received the news that the fintech had been granted a UK banking licence from the British regulator — three long years after applying for one. 

They’re also, no doubt, delighted that they no longer have to answer questions about when — or if — the company would ever gain a licence.

But the hard work doesn’t end just yet. Revolut has, voluntarily, entered what’s known as a ‘mobilisation’ phase, during which it will fully build out its banking operations and beef up its senior management team. 

During this period, nothing much changes for Revolut’s UK customers, a company spokesperson confirmed to Sifted. Revolut services will remain the same until the mobilisation period — which could last up to 12 months — ends.

For now, money held with Revolut will also continue to be protected through the e-money process of “safeguarding”, meaning that the UK’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) deposit protection — which guarantees compensation of up to £85k in case of a bank’s failure — does not yet apply. 

Once ‘mobilised’ it'll be able to launch new lending products, like mortgages, loans and credit cards. 

Today on Sifted, fintech reporter Tom Matsuda finds out what Revolut can — and can’t — do until then.

— Amy Lewin, editor

🇬🇧 UK prime minister Keir Starmer announced that GB Energy — a state-owned company aimed at increasing renewable energy — will use the country’s surrounding seabed to build offshore wind farms it hopes will power 20m homes across the country. The Crown Estate — a public entity that manages a portfolio of land across the UK and helps fund the Royal Family — owns the seabed.

• GB Energy — one of the new UK government’s flagship policies — will pay for things like scoping out the seabed and making sure there are connections to the grid, thereby allowing private developers to build thousands of new turbines.
• The government’s set to put £8.3bn into the company over the next five years; it hopes to mobilise a hefty £60bn of private capital on top of that.
• It has £3.3bn to invest in small-scale energy projects in local communities, as well as £5bn for direct investments to help get larger projects up and running.
• GB Energy will co-invest in projects themselves rather than companies, meaning later-stage businesses with a portfolio of energy projects are the ones that it’s likely to work with. That said, it could buoy up startups working on supply chains for energy companies, or those working on battery and grid technologies.

🇱🇹 Lithuania’s national bank has instructed Accel-backed payments fintech kevin to not provide payment services to new clients until it complies with reporting requirements, after the startup failed to submit its financial statements on time, the Bank of Lithuania said in a press release Thursday. 

• The national bank also appointed auditing company Valentas as a “supervisor” to kevin. It’ll be responsible for assisting in the delivery of the startup’s financial accounts for 2023, with a deadline of August 30, 2024.
• Valentas will have to approve “all decisions of the institution's managers related to the activities of Kevin EU, UAB,” the bank said, although it added that the supervisor “does not take over the management of the institution”.

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Groningen, Netherlands-based Payt, a SaaS platform that automates the process of businesses getting money from customers who’ve received goods but not paid for them yet, raised $55m in funding from Partech.

London-based Addionics, which redesigns the architecture of rechargeable batteries, raised $39m in Series B funding. GM Ventures, Deep Insight and Scania Group led the round. 

Berlin-based bunch, a platform to set up and manage private market investments, raised $15.5m in Series A funding. FinTech Collective led the round and was joined by investors including Cherry Ventures and Motive Ventures.

Munich, Germany-based deepc, an AI operating system for radiologists and clinical organisations, raised $13m in Series A funding. Sofinnova Partners and Bertelsmann Investments led the round and were joined by investors including KHP Ventures, SwissHealth Ventures and Winning Mindset Ventures.

London-based Primary Portal, which aggregates and digitises equity capital market processes for banks and asset managers, raised £7.5m in Series A funding. DB1 Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Dutch Founders Fund and Flow Traders.

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