In 2017 Monzo and N26 called Revolut's model niche. Revolut is now worth $115B

What's the story? In December 2017 TechCrunch put the founders of Europe's three hottest challenger banks on one stage at Disrupt Berlin: Tom BlomfieldDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → of MonzoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Valentin StalfDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → of N26Dealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Nik StoronskyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → of RevolutDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The moderator opened by admitting his first thought had been that they were "basically like fools" for building banks from scratch. The clip resurfaced on X this week, the day after Revolut confirmed a $115 billion valuation, with investor Kevin Costa calling it a depiction of how founder psychology drives venture returns.

What they said then: Revolut had just passed one million customers, and Storonsky said it grew "organically without any marketing" by giving people interbank exchange rates. Blomfield called Revolut's currency trading and new Bitcoin feature "a 1% niche problem", and Stalf said only about 5 to 10% of N26 customers used foreign exchange, positioning N26 instead as a full replacement for a traditional bank with a goal of maybe 10 to 20 million customers. When Storonsky listed launches in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and India and was asked whether the plan was to spend all the VC money, he said Revolut was very cost-conscious and a new country "doesn't cost much". Asked which rival they would run if they could not run their own, Blomfield picked N26, Stalf picked Monzo and Storonsky picked Revolut.

Where they are now: Revolut has more than 80 million retail customers and closed a share sale at $115 billion on 4 November 2026. Monzo has grown to more than 16 million customers and about £1.7 billion of annual revenue; after takeover talks with Nubank at up to £10 billion fell through, the FT reports it is courting private equity for a stake sale. N26 posted its first full year of net profit in 2025 (€1.6 million on €501.6 million revenue, 5.6 million revenue-relevant customers) and has not priced a round since its $9 billion valuation in 2021. Stalf moved to N26's supervisory board in 2025, and Blomfield handed over as Monzo CEO in 2020.

Why it matters: Three teams started from similar mobile-first cards and ended up worth very different amounts. Revolut's multi-product, every-country push, dismissed on stage as a niche, is the strategy that compounded fastest.

Read more: TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin 2017 (video), Kevin Costa (X), Revolut, TechCrunch, N26, Tech.eu, FT

Image: TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin 2017