Tech-focused investment firm Molten Ventures has written down its stake in Revolut by 40% in the latest blow for the British fintech company.
The writedown would imply a valuation of around $19.8bn (£15.6bn) if using Revolut’s last publicly shared valuation of $33bn, achieved in 2021 when it raised $800m.
However, Molten’s 40% writedown is based on its own undisclosed internal valuation of Revolut in March 2022 and March 2023.
Molten Ventures – which owns less than 5% of Revolut – valued its stake at £91.3m in March 2022.
Its full-year results, published today, value its stake in Revolut at £54.5m as of March 2023.
The VC firm, then known as Draper Esprit, invested $16.5m in Revolut in April 2018 at a $1.7bn valuation.
The writedown follows a difficult period for Revolut in which auditor BDO said it was unable to independently verify three-quarters of 2021 revenue, and its application for a UK banking licence hangs in the balance.
In April, investment bank Schroders almost halved the valuation of its shareholding in Revolut, valuing the company at $15bn. Revolut’s own most recent internal valuation has not been publicly disclosed.
Revolut co-founder and CEO Nikolay Storonsky has hit out at regulators over delays to its banking licence application, which The Telegraph reported as being blocked last month.
Despite its challenges, Revolut says it has grown to 30 million customers worldwide.
UKTN has approached Revolut for comment.
The Revolut writedown comes amid a torrid market in which both public and private tech valuations have been slashed.
Other companies in Molten Ventures’ portfolio include British semiconductor design company Graphcore. Molten Ventures wrote down its £113.5m stake to £37.2m – a 67% drop.
In October 2022, Baillie Gifford, which backed the company through its Schiehallion Fund, wrote down its $16.6m investment from January to just $11.9m, a 28% decline.
The Bristol-headquartered company hit a valuation of $2.8bn in December 2020.
However, the writedown of its stakes in Revolut and Graphcore are significantly steeper than the average for Molten Ventures’ portfolio, which collectively has been written down by 10% since last year.
Molten Ventures declined to comment. However, CEO Martin Davis told City A.M. – which first reported the news – that Molten Ventures “does not base its valuations on newspaper reports” but the market needed more clarity from the fintech company.
This article was amended to reflect that Molten Ventures bought its stake in Revolut prior to the $33bn valuation.
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