(Updates with revenue forecast in paragraph 7)
LONDON, June 21 (Reuters) - Britain's financial technology firm Revolut could be valued at north of $40 billion in a share sale, even as it still awaits a UK banking license, according people familiar with the situation.
The digital finance app is working with bankers on a $500 million share sale, including shares held by employees, which could value it at more than $40 billion, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
That level would exceed the $33 billion valuation Revolut achieved in a 2021 fundraising. The firm applied for a UK banking license more than two years ago.
Britain's fintech industry has faced a funding crunch in recent years, with sky-high pandemic-era valuations coming under pressure as investors turned more cautious.
Revolut has been ranked as the country's most valuable start-up, and is one of a handful of financial services apps to have emerged in Britain over the last decade, offering financial services without having physical branches.
It was founded in 2015 and has 40 million customers globally, with 9 million of them in Britain. It has plans to expand its workforce to 11,500 by the end of 2024.
Revolut's 2023 accounts have not been published, but the company has said it expects to hit $2 billion in revenue in 2023, which would be a more than 80% increase from the previous year, and a "double digit net profit margin." (Reporting by Anousha Sakoui, Elizabeth Howcrowft and Krystal Hu. Editing by Marguerita Choy and Jane Merriman)
