Revolut, the global fintech giant, has grown to 15 million users in 31 countries, adding 5 million in the last 12 months, thanks to a concerted effort to localize the app for 31 new markets and counting.
Having launched in 2015, growing to 15M+ users in only six years demonstrates incredible success in growth, to which the app credits its concerted effort of swift expansion to new markets.
The access to new markets is unlocked through localizing the app, making it available to locals in their native language and congruous with the local culture and norms. To ensure the systematic localization of the app, Revolut uses the Lokalise translation and localization management software in tandem with their translation agency, RWS. The partnership helped scale Revolut at a time when they were only a 20-person team, making the rapid language rollout possible – the prerequisite for growth.
The automated pipeline we’ve been able to create around Lokalise is quite impressive – it requires very little input from human project management, and it gives us direct lines of collaboration with our translation and localization partners – Moravia and Transperfect. Though we’ve been using Lokalise for quite a long time, what’s changed is the size of our team, and how we interact with it. The flexibility of the tool enables us to leverage any relationships with everyone in the localization pipeline, and has made it possible to increase the speed of rollout to new markets.
– Theo Willems, Operations Manager at Revolut
Revolut’s growth journey began with Europe, targeting the fragmented and diverse cultures. From there it has gone on to expand to 5 additional markets worldwide, most recently to the USA and Japan, with more in the pipeline including countries in Central and South America, Asia, with India up next.
The process of localization fosters inclusiveness and accessibility to banking technology, not only in terms of democratizing access to other nationalities but also in increasing accessibility to various generations, which may not be comfortable with an English language interface. This goes hand in hand with Revolut’s cross-border mentality to democratize cross-border payments, currency exchange, etc. By making the app available to new markets in their own languages, this accessibility is further implemented.