| 'ello from London. Can a tech company from Europe become a global hit without the US? Revolut might soon provide an answer. But first... Three things you need to know today: • Microsoft's stock took a hit from slight miss on Azure cloud growth
• OpenAI rolls out its delayed voice assistant feature
• Intel is slashing thousands of jobs to help fund pricey turnaround plan Last week, Revolut Ltd., the London-based fintech trying to take on the big banks, finally received a banking license in its home country, more than three years after applying. It comes as Revolut is preparing an employee share sale valuing the company north of $40 billion, which would mint it as Europe's most valuable startup — and one of the largest globally. Haven't heard of Revolut? If you're an American, don't feel bad. The company opened its US office in early 2020, but has barely made a dent there. Revolut initially grew by offering low foreign exchange fees, a service less appealing to Americans, who don't travel internationally as much. Bringing tech across the Atlantic, already a difficult feat, is even harder in finance, where US regulators are stingy with newcomers. In much of Europe, though, Revolut is a consumer staple. More than half the population use the company's app in Ireland, where Revolut is a verb for sending payments. But it's more than just a Euro Venmo. Formed in 2015, Revolut expanded from offering prepaid debit cards for backpackers to a litany of financial activities, from crypto trading to hotel booking to pet insurance. It plans to add mortgage lending next year. Revolut, which received a banking license in Europe in 2021, and came under European Central Bank supervision earlier this year, counts 45 million customers in 38 countries. About 1 million of those users are in the US, but some of the startup's key backers aren't pressing for urgent expansion there. "I don't think they need to be in the US," said Martin Mignot, a partner with Index Ventures, one of Revolut's largest shareholders. He pointed to the success of of Nu Holdings Ltd., a neo-bank worth $58 billion that operates mostly in Brazil. Nik Storonsky, Revolut's brash founder and chief executive officer, has described his ambition as building a "super app" (a concept Elon Musk also likes). "Ultimately, by super app," Storonsky told the Times of London in the fall of 2022, "I mean a global bank, which gives you access to all financial services." A UK banking license was a critical step in this plan. Storonsky told the Times then that Revolut was "almost there" in securing the approval. It wasn't. The process dragged on for years, in part due a critical audit report and corporate statements that accountants called "bizarre" and "just wrong." Revolut's cavalier attitude probably didn't help — several reports said Storonsky, who emblazoned the slogan "get shit done" in the office, ran a brutal work culture that churned through staff. While awaiting the license, Revolut recruited directors and executives from big banks and went about "buttoning up" its management, said Reshma Sohoni, a managing partner with Seedcamp, an early investor. (Storonsky also took potshots at the UK.) Revolut filed its accounts early this summer, reporting revenue for 2023 that nearly doubled to $2.2 billion. With the British license in tow, Revolut may apply for one in the US. "We don't comment on any potential or ongoing license applications, but what I can say is that becoming a US-licensed bank is one of our longer-term ambitions," a company spokesperson said. Investors see more room to expand across Latin America, Asia and Revolut's home turf. "There's so much to tap into across Europe," Sohoni said. "They're not dogmatic," added Index's Mignot. "They will look wherever they see pull from the market." He likened the startup to a video game character, jumping from one challenging level to the next. "Maybe the US is the final boss." —Mark Bergen Please note: Our email domain is changing, which means you'll be receiving this newsletter from noreply@news.bloomberg.com. Update your contacts to ensure you continue receiving it -- check out the bottom of this email for more details. Google is using AI to supercharge its costly push into health-care. Alphabet, Google's parent company, has struggled to break into the $4 trillion industry for years. After strategy shifts, billions of dollars in investments and a long list of health-care moonshots that have failed to take off — like glucose-sensing contact lenses, cancer-detecting pills and Google Glass for surgery — Alphabet needs a win. And artificial intelligence could provide it. Samsung reported stellar earnings, with its flagship smartphone scoring double-digit growth and memory sales more than doubling. Nearly 60 TikTok employees in Singapore were hospitalized with food poisoning. AI risk and compliance startup Credo AI gets a $101 million valuation. AMD gave a strong revenue forecast, signaling demand for its AI chips. | 
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