The neobank Revolut is preparing Revolut Ventures, a platform intended to open stakes in unlisted companies to “eligible” clients. The information, taken from an internal memo cited by Handelsblatt, was reported by finews.ch on 26 October 2026. In Switzerland, where more than 1.3 million people use Revolut, access, fees and liquidity remain unknown.
What is Revolut preparing with Revolut Ventures?
Revolut wants to run its own platform for investing in private companies. According to the internal memo, it is meant to let eligible clients take positions in unlisted companies alongside their existing portfolios. The stated goal is to give retail investors access to “institutional-grade” venture capital.
The vehicle takes the form of an ELTIF, a European long-term investment fund. It is to invest mainly in technology companies that have already moved beyond the start-up stage. These companies are at the stage before a possible stock market listing.
Revolut justifies this choice with a figure. According to the neobank, the average age of a company at its stock market debut rose from 6.9 to 11 years between 2014 and 2025. A large share of value creation would therefore take place before the listing. Revolut cites the artificial intelligence (AI) labs Anthropic and OpenAI as examples.
Three service providers oversee the fund, according to finews.ch:
- Carne Group handles the fund management. It has around 700 clients, who manage more than 1,000 billion dollars in more than 160 countries.
- Alter Domus is the administrator.
- The American institution BNY handles the safekeeping of assets, as depositary and custodian bank.
What role does Partners Group play at Revolut?
Partners Group already appears in the Revolut app. In July 2026, the neobank launched a private equity offering. Its clients can invest there in funds from four specialist managers: Apollo, Ares, Hamilton Lane and the manager Partners Group.
Revolut Ventures adds another level to this offering. Until now, Revolut distributed the funds of these specialists. With Revolut Ventures, it is launching a platform it manages itself and its own venture capital fund. Our source does not say whether the July 2026 offering is open to Swiss clients.
How does Revolut compare with other platforms?
Revolut is not a pioneer in this field. According to finews.ch, other neobanks and online brokers have offered private market investments for longer.
| Platform | Private markets offering | Since (according to finews.ch) |
|---|---|---|
| Revolut | Funds from Apollo, Ares, Hamilton Lane and Partners Group | July 2026 |
| Revolut Ventures | Own venture capital fund (ELTIF), eligible clients | Date not specified |
| Trade Republic | Funds from EQT and Apollo | About a year |
| Scalable | Blackrock private equity ELTIF | Not specified |
The table only covers the players cited by our source. The private market offerings of Swiss banks and platforms are not included, for lack of comparable data in our sources.
Where does Revolut stand in Switzerland?
Revolut has more than 1.3 million users in Switzerland, according to finews.ch. It does not yet hold its own banking licence there. In September 2026, it applied for one to the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). It also plans to invest more than 150 million francs in Switzerland over the next five years.
A banking licence covers more than a Fintech licence. Under the FINMA authorisation rules, the Fintech licence caps public deposits at 100 million francs. These deposits can be neither invested nor bear interest. An authorisation, however, governs an institution or a product, not the risk of the asset purchased.
The neobank is also coming out of a recent incident. On 20 October 2026, its card payments and withdrawals were disrupted during a Google Cloud outage in London. Revolut had not publicly confirmed the link with Google at the time.
What are the risks for a saver in Switzerland?
Revolut itself warns its clients. These investments offer growth potential, it writes, but they are “significantly less liquid” than listed shares. They also carry “a considerable risk of capital loss”. That is why the offering is not aimed at all clients, only “eligible” ones.
The fund targets a late stage of financing. A start-up first goes through seed and Series A funding rounds. Series B, C and beyond come next, when it needs to grow. Revolut is targeting rather these companies close to a listing.
This market is highly concentrated. According to CB Insights figures reported by 2clics in October 2026, global venture capital reached 698.3 billion dollars in the first nine months of 2026. AI captured 71% of it. OpenAI, with 132 billion, and Anthropic, with 95 billion, account for about a third of the year's amounts.
Our reading: the two examples chosen by Revolut alone account for about a third of global venture capital in 2026. They illustrate a two-speed market rather than the typical path of a start-up. In Switzerland, the record dates from 2021, with 3.1 billion francs of venture capital invested in start-ups, according to our guide to raising funds in Switzerland.
This article describes an announced offering and does not constitute investment advice.
What we don't know yet
- Whether Revolut clients in Switzerland will be able to access Revolut Ventures, and under what eligibility criteria.
- The fees charged by the fund and by the platform.
- The actual liquidity: lock-up period, exit options, valuation of the units.
- The launch timetable, which the finews.ch text does not detail.
- Swiss clients' access to the private equity offering launched in July 2026.
- The outcome and timetable of the banking licence application filed with FINMA.
