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If you think of the challenger bank playbook, most firms have lead with a free offering -- generally, a no-fee current account with some level of ATM access and money transfer.
As my grandfather used to tell me, it's hard to build a business off of eyeballs and the challengers have been deliberate about finding ways to monetize their free accounts. In addition to lending products, many offer premium accounts that, for a monthly fee, add in some level of concierge service or insurance.
Revolut, for example, offers Revolut for Business, a premium account that offers a multi-currency current account, instant money transfers and prepaid business cards. The company claims it has 80,000 business customers.
Now, the London-based challenger has partnered with WeWork, which provides more than 400,000 members around the world with workspace and services through both physical and virtual offerings.
This deal isn't really about Revolut customers getting a free WeWork hot desk for 3 months. It's about the fact that the shared workspace leader rents office space primarily to startups, freelancers and small businesses — Revolut’s target audience for its business accounts.
Makes sense for Revolut, right? Instead of onboarding new accounts in onesies and twosies, partnership deals like this one should open the door for larger numbers of account openings.
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