Revolut strikes deal with Mastercard to boost US expansion
Revolut has signed a deal with Mastercard as part of its expansion into the US that will see its first debit cards issued there by the end of the year.
The deal will see Mastercard issue its first debit cards and will also extend to a minimum of half of its European cards.
Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky said the firm would also use some of Mastercard’s new technology, including a platform that enables payments to be sent directly from one card to another.
“When we were trying to launch in the US two years ago, Mastercard became our first offer for it,” Storonsky told CNBC.
Sue Kelsey, Mastercard’s executive vice president of global prepaid and financial inclusion told CNBC: “What we’ve been working really hard on is accelerating Revolut’s launch in the US. This will allow us 100% issuance of Revolut accounts on Mastercard.”
Regarding the competition with Visa, she said: “We are very confident. I don’t think this is a draw by any stretch.”
The deal comes after Revolut’s deal with Visa, which is aimed at boosting the fintech firm’s global expansion. The deal could help the firm hire over 3,500 additional people by the summer of 2020 to support its global expansion.
Visa will be the card network behind 75% of Revolut’s cards beyond Europe.
The UK startup has already hired 30 employees in the US and plans to triple its headcount over the next six months.
Revolut is the latest player in a wave of digital banking start-ups planning a global expansion including Monzo and N26.
As it reaches out internationally, Revolut is looking to raise $1.5bn in a deal that would value the company at somewhere between $5.0bn and $10.0bn, said Sky News.
Some $1.0bn of that funding would reportedly be in the form of a convertible loan that converts to stock if Revolut obtains a US banking license.