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Revolut has offered to buy back the shares of former employees at a 30 per cent discount to its recent fundraising round, in which the fintech secured a $75bn valuation.
The company has given former staff the chance to sell their shares back to the company at $966.74 each, according to correspondence seen by the Financial Times.
Former employees who took up the offer would be cashing out at a valuation of $52.5bn, a steep discount to the funding round that concluded last month but higher than the last time former employees were given the chance to cash out last year.
Revolut said: “We received interest from a number of former employees looking to sell shares, so we extended the buyback programme that we started earlier this year to facilitate this for those who wish to participate.”
One person close to the company said that, despite the discount, former staff were in line to make significant sums, which could potentially run into the millions.
Revolut has engineered a series of transactions in recent months that have handed windfalls to staff. In September the FT reported that current employees were allowed to sell up to 20 per cent of their shares in the company at the $75bn valuation.
Early investors were also given the chance to take part in a share buyback programme in which Revolut purchased shares at $1,381.06 each.
Revolut said that it was extending its buyback programme following feedback from former employees, according to correspondence seen by the FT.
The correspondence said that, while its alumni were being offered a price that was 30 per cent lower than the recent funding round, it was a 12 per cent premium to the price on offer in the 2024 secondary sale.
People familiar with the matter said that during Revolut’s secondary share sale last year, which valued the business at $45bn, there was no discount for former employees cashing out. However, one person close to the company said that last year’s process was not comparable to a buyback programme.
Revolut secured the $75bn valuation after completing a funding round led by the investment firms Coatue, Greenoaks, Dragoneer and Fidelity.
The company obtained a valuation that rivals UK high street lenders Barclays and Lloyds despite not yet securing a full UK banking licence from the Bank of England.
Revolut remains in a “mobilisation phase” during which it has to build out its controls and infrastructure. Until then, deposits for its UK banking division are capped at a total of £50,000.
Revolut, however, has banking licences elsewhere such as in the EU through a Lithuanian licence and Mexico.
