Revolut is getting a physical bank branch (05/05)

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Revolut is set to open its first physical branch later this year.

Barcelona will be the home of Revolut’s first branch, which makes sense — Barcelona is a city with a vibrant local population, a strong business environment, and a high degree of tourist footfall (good for virality).

Revolut was founded as, and grew for more than a decade as a branchless bank. The move should be seen as much for the aesthetic and experiential offering as anything else. In fact, the bank told Euronews that this would "by no means be a traditional bank branch," but a "high-visibility, immersive space."

This follows on from Wise’s launch of a London pop-up store earlier this year. Seen as a means of triggering more account sign-ups and building brand awareness. 

This isn’t Revolut’s first move into physical banking.

Revolut launched its own branded ATMs in Spain last year, as well as an ATM in Milan airport that can dispense cards for use right away. At the same time some UK banks have been closing hundreds of branches in recent years. Yet for the newer entrants it seems the in-person experience is growing once again, and Revolut is among those seeking to reimagine branches for a new generation.

Please find another week of fintech news, financings, and exits below!

Thanks for reading,

- Matt

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Highlights below of deals since the last post in the fintech space across the UK & Europe. Deal data powered by Dealroom.

Copenhagen-based Performative raised an €11.9m Series A to scale its AI-native wealth management operating system for financial institutions — the round was led by FinTech Collective, with participation from BlackFin Tech, West Hill Capital and existing investors including Dreamcraft Ventures, Moonfire Ventures and Curiosity VC.

Seapoint raised a €7.5m seed round to scale its AI-native financial operations platform for European startups — the round was led by 13books, with participation from angel investors and existing backers including Frontline Ventures and Tapestry VC. 

Firenze raised £6m to expand its Lombard lending platform — the round was led by AlbionVC, with follow-on participation from existing investors including Outward VC and Form Ventures. 

ViteSicure raised a €2.5m Series A to expand its digital life and protection insurance platform in Italy — the round added new strategic investors including Ad4Ventures and Net Insurance, with participation from existing shareholders.

Tapaya raised a €1m pre-seed round for their next generation SoftPOS platform — the round was led by Passion Capital, with co-lead participation from Depo Ventures and follow-on investment from BADideas.fund.

🇬🇧 NatWest became the first UK bank to launch a ChatGPT app, offering home-buying and remortgage guidance through the platform

🇪🇺Revolut is opening its first physical store in Barcelona, marking its first move into experiential retail.

🌍 OnePay (backed by Walmart) partnered with Tempo to add real-time, cross-border money movement capabilities.

🌍 Visa expanded its stablecoin settlement network as tokenized settlement volume reportedly reached a $7bn annualized run rate.

🌍 TRM Labsfound that North Korea-linked hackers accounted for 76% of all crypto hack value stolen in 2026, across just two attacks.

🇪🇺 Santander increased its stake in Ebury, deepening its bet on the UK-based cross-border payments and FX platform.

🌍 Google and Mastercard backed new FIDO Alliance standards for agentic commerce, as the industry looks to secure AI-led shopping and payment flows.

🌍 PayPal made Venmo a standalone business unit

🌍 The US government and allies published guidance on safely deploying AI agents, including security considerations for autonomous systems.

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Reuters investigated Iran’s largest crypto exchange

Anthropic ran an experiment with agentic commerce called project deal