Revolut Mafia is now bigger than Revolut itself 🦄; Airwallex gears up for 2026 IPO amid rapid growth 🚀; Fraud cost $500 billion while illicit money topped $3 trillion in 2023 😳
FinTech is Eating the World, 16 January
Hey Everyone,
Happy Tuesday! On today’s radar we have Revolut Mafia that’s now bigger than Revolut itself (what does it tell us & why it’s important + more deeper dives into Revolut), Airwallex gearing up for 2026 IPO (it won’t be easy), and fraud that cost $500 billion while illicit money topped $3 trillion in 2023 (a look into the latest data from Nasdaq). Let’s just jump straight into the intriguing stuff 🌶
Revolut Mafia is now bigger than Revolut itself 🦄
Following the money 💸 Digital FinTech challenger and Super App wannabe Revolut is (still) not only one of the hottest European startups. Also, it’s a very productive and successful founder factory.
Let’s take a look.
More on this 👉 According to research by Vladislav Solodkiy, ex-Revolut employees founded 100+ startups and raised a whopping $2.2 billion in funding, surpassing the $1.7 billion raised by Revolut itself. In just ~5 years.
Among these, 67 startups launched by Revolut alumni have raised an impressive $451 million from 152 VCs, including top firms like a16z, Visa V 0.00%↑, and Accel.
The money💰 The crazy part? They raise 4X larger pre-seed rounds and 3X larger seed rounds than European averages 🤯
Accelerators like Y Combinator and TechStars have easily accepted many of these startups.
The top Revolut mafia startups by funding are Shares ($89.8M), Tesseract ($78M), Sardine ($75.6M), and Belvo ($56M). Though FinTech dominates with 36% of startups, the diversity of ventures highlights the wide-ranging capabilities alumni gain at Revolut.
ICYMI: Shares wants to be the ‘Louis Vuitton’ of trading apps 👀 [+ one more read]
The Revolut Mafia yet again demonstrates the power of connections and skills gained at high-growth FinTechs and technology startups.
✈️ THE TAKEAWAY
Why this matters? 🤔 Startup mafias are no joke. From PayPal PYPL 0.00%↑ to Google GOOGL 0.00%↑, Skype, N26 & Revolut, and even OpenAI, the startup mafia phenomenon demonstrates the power of transformative work cultures in fostering innovation and cultivating future leaders that end up building the businesses of tomorrow. Thanks to strong personal connections and shared experiences, members of startup mafias validate their ideas faster, build core teams more easily, and can ship products & services quicker. That's the key to driving economic growth and innovation.
ICYMI: Revolut's HR Platform is gaining traction 🚀
Christmas present from Revolut: delayed 2022 accounts are finally here 🎁 [latest numbers & what they mean + what’s next & some bonus reads]