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Revolut in talks to secure new funding at $65bn valuation

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Revolut is in talks to raise new funding from investors at a $65bn valuation, according to people familiar with the matter, in a transaction that would fuel global expansion for Europe’s most valuable start-up.

The UK-based financial technology group is in discussions to raise about $1bn of funding via newly issued shares and the sale of some existing stock, two of the people said.

The US investment firm Greenoaks is in talks to lead the private funding round, one person said, cautioning that details had not been finalised. 

Revolut conducted a sale of existing shares about a year ago at a $45bn valuation. 

The Financial Times previously reported that Revolut chief executive Nik Storonsky was in line for an outsized compensation package should the company reach a $150bn valuation. 

Revolut and Greenoaks declined to comment.

This is a developing story



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Europe just years away from uncrewed fighter jets, says defence start-up Helsing

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AI company allowed its software to take control of a Gripen E fighter jet over the Baltic Sea in two test flights



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News-powered hedge fund group Hunterbrook valued at $100mn

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Hunterbrook Global has been valued at $100mn after a recent fundraising, as the novel US newsroom-cum-hedge fund revealed to investors that it planned to move into litigation.

The new capital, raised by the parent company that oversees the hedge fund Hunterbrook Capital and the news outlet Hunterbrook Media, has come from investors, including the Ford Foundation and venture capital firm Floating Point, according to a person familiar with the fundraise.

Hunterbrook was launched in 2023 by investor Nathaniel Brooks Horwitz and writer Sam Koppelman, creating a newsroom that would gather exclusive information and a hedge fund that would trade off it.

The recent fundraise doubled Hunterbrook’s valuation from its 2023 seed round and is separate from the $100mn raised last year for the investment fund run by Hunterbrook Capital.

The new funds will be invested in building its newsroom further, according to a person close to the situation. Hunterbrook declined to comment.

Hunterbrook also revealed to investors in a letter that it planned to further exploit its news gathering by launching a litigation business that would partner with law firms on cases enabled by the newsroom’s reporting. The business is being led by led by media lawyer and litigator Joe Slaughter.

The fund, which started trading in April 2024, gets exclusive early access to the newsroom’s potentially market-moving stories, enabling it to trade on the scoops. Meanwhile, profits made from the fund are ploughed back into the newsroom to continue to build its expertise.

Hunterbrook initially envisaged that it would short stocks in instances where its newsroom exposed scandals, but this approach has been sidelined in an “irascible bull market”, according to the investor letter.

The letter also details how Hunterbrook is generating a sizeable portion of its returns by taking long positions in businesses its journalists have investigated and found to be sound.

Hunterbrook’s fund generated a 31 per cent return in the second quarter of 2025 and a 16 per cent return year to date.

“This won’t be the norm, though we’ll always aspire to it. But it also wasn’t a normal quarter to achieve these results, either,” the letter says. “The fund navigated the crash in April, the violent recovery into May, its unlikely continuation to new all-time highs in June, and kaleidoscopic skirmishes with misinformation along the way.”

The fund is closed to new investors but existing partners, including Horwitz and Koppelman, recently added to their holdings, according to the letter.

Hunterbrook’s investments in the period have included Core Scientific, a data centre infrastructure provider that is being acquired by CoreWeave for $9bn, as well as Evolv Technologies, Carpenter Technology and Rocket Companies.

The letter also pointed to one “untradable scoop”: on Saturday June 21, when markets were closed, Hunterbrook Media broke the news that B-2 stealth bombers had launched from an Air Force base in Missouri, indicating the US would imminently join Israel’s bombardment of Iran.



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Octopus Energy’s software spin-off is an idea with legs

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Kraken, named for a giant cephalopod, is the stuff of myth. Can a software platform of the same name bring forth riches from the deep? Octopus Energy, its current owner, hopes so.

Octopus plans to spin off its technology arm, which powers the utility’s back-office functions, as a separate entity with a valuation of perhaps $10bn. That looks rich: Octopus itself, including Kraken, was valued at $1bn less than that in a fundraising last year. It would imply a multiple of 50-odd times last year’s $185mn of sales, while peers on average trade at 10 times.

Perhaps mythical beasts demand heroic assumptions. Kraken’s revenue increased by a third in the year to April 2024; assume it maintains that pace over the subsequent three years, and it would rise to almost $440mn. Applying US software company ServiceNow’s sector-leading forward multiple of 15 times sales still gets to a valuation of just $6.6bn.

True, Kraken has form when it comes to profitability — no mean feat for a tech start-up — and growth. Like traditional software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies, such as Germany’s SAP or Salesforce of the US, Kraken and its ilk reel in regular licensing fees, as well as income for implementing and integrating systems.

This is dull business, but like the suckers of an enormous sea creature, it is sticky. Once companies have migrated their customer billing and other business functions over to a software platform, they tend to stay for the long haul. Kraken already serves around 40 customers other than Octopus, with an aggregate 70mn-plus customers. Its latest win, US National Grid, brought in more than 6mn customers. Beyond energy, it has tentacles in water and telecoms too. 

Third party clients like the efficiency wrought by these platforms, which in some cases can, Kraken says, concertina down the need for 17 legacy systems into one. The cache of data is also valuable, enabling suppliers to balance out demand; for example, by offering cheaper rates to run the dishwasher at night.

Octopus is far from the only new wave of disrupters harbouring a software arm. A growing shoal of competitors includes Kaluza, launched by OVO Energy, ENSEK, bought by Centrica last year, and Tridens Technology. Nor is it just electricity. Engine, a software platform created by neobank Starling, is targeting 40 global clients within the next four years. Ecommerce players like Ocado have roots embedded in technology too.

A successful spin-off and subsequent float of Kraken could well set the tone for other tech platforms to cut loose. Bankers pitching deals that might revive the M&A market will hope so. But spin-offs can capsize too. Just ask vitamins-to-lipstick online retailer THG. A deal that valued its tech platform above $6bn fell apart, leaving Ingenuity, the platform, below £100mn. Octopus’ advisers will hope Kraken sets the better benchmark.

louise.lucas@ft.com



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