World tennis number one Andy Murray is one of thousands of people who have pledged to invest more than €19 million in internet bank Revolut, which has 40,000 Irish customers.
Revolut sought to raise £4 million (€4.47 million) through crowd-funding – a system under which large numbers of people can invest small amounts of cash in a business – organised by Seedrs, which specialises in raising cash in this way.
The initiative drew a response from more than 40,000 of its customers in 55 different countries, whom the bank said have promised more than £17 million or €18.99 million in total.
Revolut confirmed that one of those who pledged cash to the start up was Scot, Andy Murray, who, it said, was a frequent investor on Seedrs.
The digital bank said on Monday that it is limiting the funding round to £4 million and to a maximum of £1,000 from any individual investor. This will bring the cash it has raised this month to a total of £50 million.
Just weeks ago it tapped investors, including existing backers Balderton Capital and Ribbit, for $58 million (€49 million) to pay for expansion across Asia and North America and to launch new products.
Total investment in the company, launched by Nikolay Storonsky, its chief executive, and Vlad Yatsenko in July 2015, now stands at $83 million.
Recruit
Revolut intends to open an office in Dublin shortly and is recruiting for a number of positions, including a country manager.
The company has gained 39,212 customers locally since launching here. Almost 10,000 have joined in the last three months.
It recently said Irish clients will be able to get a personal international bank account number (IBAN), so they can have their salary paid directly into their Revolut account.
Commenting on the latest fund raising, Mr Storonsky said the bank was committed to improving its services by adding new products in the coming months.
Revolut has recruited more than 750,000 customers in 42 European countries since it launched two years ago. The company says that it wants to improve transparency and cut hidden banking fees to zero.
