UK payments startup Revolut raises $66M Series B led by Index Ventures, adds support for bitcoin
Context & Ripple Effects
This $66M Series B is the early chapter of what became one of Europe's largest fintech arcs: within nine months Revolut followed it with a $250M round led by DST Global at a $1.7B valuation, then a $500M TCV round at $5.5B in 2020. The bitcoin support announced alongside the raise made crypto trading a core feature of the app from the start.
The endgame of that arc is now visible: Revolut secured a UK banking license after a multi-year regulatory battle, upgraded to a full license in 2026, and reported £4.5B in 2025 revenue — so this 2017 raise marks the point where a payments app began positioning itself as a future bank.
First-order effects
- Index Ventures takes the lead seat in a startup that will become one of its signature fintech positions, while Revolut's users gain in-app bitcoin alongside currency exchange and payments.
Second-order effects
- Adding bitcoin turns crypto from a specialist exchange product into a default feature of consumer payment apps, pressuring rival UK challengers to bundle digital assets or cede the feature war.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — successive mega-rounds converting into regulatory licenses and lending rights — the structural shift is neobanks absorbing both trading and traditional banking functions, ending the separation between payments apps, brokers, and banks.
The trend: Revolut's path from VC-funded payments app to fully licensed UK bank is a data point in fintechs using crypto features and escalating funding rounds to climb into regulated banking.