London-based fintech startup, Revolut, has announced the launch of acquiring for Revolut Business customers at Web Summit 2020. Revolut’s move into acquiring will see the company compete with market incumbents Stripe, Adyen, or Checkout.com.
What will Revolut offer with its new acquiring solution?
Revolut Business is the business account from fintech super-app Revolut. It was launched in July 2017 across the UK and Europe and currently has over 500,000 business customers worldwide. According to the company, it helps customers get more from their business account with powerful tools that provide total control over their business’ finances.
With the new acquiring solution, the company enables businesses in 13 European countries to accept card payments online, directly into their account. The product will form part of Revolut Business’ starter pack, with an aim to provide businesses with an end-to-end solution.
The new functionality enables businesses to manage everything in one place, without the need to alternate (and reconcile) between acquiring and banking platforms. The company also claims that with the new acquiring solution, it enables businesses in 13 European countries to accept card payments online, directly into their account.
In addition, companies can now look to expand into new geographies without worrying about incurring additional fees. Businesses can save on currency conversions and accept payments in 14 currencies (EUR, GBP, USD, CAD, CHF, JPY, AUD, HKD, SEK, DKK, NOK, NZD, PLN, ZAR). Funds can be kept in the same currency or converted to another currency at the interbank rate to help save on foreign exchange.
The new functionality is currently available for Revolut Business customers in the UK, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. The product will roll out to eligible businesses in the European Economic Area (EEA) in the coming weeks.
Advantages for business users
Business customers can take advantage of low fees and very competitive rates, with a 1.3% fee for the UK and EEA consumer cards, and a 2.8% fee for all other cards.
Revolut Business customers on paid plans will also receive an allowance of free UK and EEA card payment acceptance every month at no additional cost.
The company helps businesses accept online payments hassle-free, with the help of its easy-to-install checkout plugins or building their own checkout experience using the customisable widget and Merchant API.
Additionally, businesses can request payments from anyone anywhere in the world, without the need for a website or online store, by using an easy, fast and secure payment link that can be shared with customers.
Speaking on the development, Nik Storonsky, CEO and founder at Revolut, says, “Companies across Europe know that it’s now essential to their success to be able to do business online. That’s why we introduced a new secure way to accept payments through websites, and we have enabled customers without an online presence to get paid fast through secure payment links. Our mission is to democratise acceptance and we are already on the way.”
About Revolut
Founded in 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko, Revolut is a financial services company that specialises in mobile banking, card payments, money remittance, and foreign exchange. It includes a prepaid debit card, currency exchange, and peer-to-peer payments.
One of Revolut’s key features includes conversion from one currency to another based on interbank rates with no fee. Customers can hold foreign currencies in their accounts or send money to another Revolut user or a bank account outside of their country.
Previous developments
Earlier this month, Revolut, launched its online Web App for its userbase of 13 million customers. The Web App is believed to let customers access their accounts safely from a web browser besides the smartphone app. According to the company, there is two-factor authentication to securely sign in to the Revolut Web App. Also, it offers a complete overview of the account, cards, and transaction history.
Prior to that in November, the London-based company launched Google Pay for its customers across a slew of European countries – Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, and Romania. With the development, Revolut claimed to be among the first financial services companies to provide Google Pay as a service within its app.
In February, the company had raised €460M in its Series D round of funding led by US-based growth capital firm TCV along with support from existing investors. With the investment, the company has raised overall funding of about €769M, to date. In addition, the round positioned Revolut among the highest valued fintechs in the world with a valuation of nearly €5B.
Image credit: Revolut
