Revolut to become title partner of Audi F1 team
The fast-growing London-based fintech company was valued at $45 billion last year through a secondary share sale to new and existing investors.
Swiss-based Sauber are becoming the factory Audi team in 2026, when Formula One starts a new engine era with major rule changes and an 11th team on the grid with the arrival of Cadillac.
Jonathan Wheatley, principal of the Audi team, said the deal had been put together in less than four months and had obvious benefits for both sides.
"If you imagine we need to engage with our fans, we need a partner that's going to help us do that," Wheatley told Reuters in a video call.
"We need to expand hugely into this incredible global space that Formula One is in at the moment, and we need to become the most attractive team in Formula One."
Wheatley said the deal reflected Audi's brand strength and was a "good news story for Formula One."
"It's the Audi magnet that's drawing a lot of people here right now," he said, speaking from the team headquarters in Hinwil, Switzerland.
Revolut has more than 55 million customers but has no physical branches. It gained a banking licence in Britain in 2024, after a three-year wait, and has global expansion plans.
Antoine Le Nel, Revolut's chief marketing officer, gave no financial details of the F1 partnership but said the company was in for the long run with Audi and aiming for 100 million customers by 2027.
He said Revolut had been looking for a platform to help the company build on its expansion.
"I think we have a true opportunity to really bring F1 to a huge audience," he told Reuters.
"From a retail perspective as well as a business perspective, I think there's going to be a lot of opportunities for us to connect the fan base to the sport through the Revolut platform."
Le Nel said Audi taking on the established teams in Formula One was like Revolut competing against traditional banks.
"If you look at Audi, very premium German brand dominating its market, it's where we want to be," he said. "It's a way for Revolut to elevate and get to where Audi has been for such a long time."
Audi said Revolut Business would be extensively integrated into the team's financial operations.
Sauber are sixth in the 10 team championship ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix and have scored in their last five races.
German driver Nico Hulkenberg celebrated his first F1 podium at Silverstone this month, finishing third in the British Grand Prix in a major boost for the team.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Times
2 hours ago
- Business Times
Bank of England rate cuts deliver £11 billion hit to households
[LONDON] Exactly one year since the Bank of England (BOE) started to cut interest rates, the pressure on households from the highest borrowing costs in a generation is still building. Bloomberg analysis of BOE savings and mortgage data shows that Britons in aggregate are an annual £11 billion (S$18.8 billion) worse off than in July last year, despite four interest-rate cuts since then and the prospect of more to come. Those reductions hit savers hard as banks and building societies were quick to respond by lowering rates paid on customer deposits. But homeowners are yet to benefit as many wait for mortgage deals locked in at higher rates to expire. The findings underscore the challenge facing policymakers to ease financial conditions for households and revive Britain's tepid growth rates as they gradually lower rates that stood at 5.25 per cent just a year ago, the highest since the onset of the global credit crunch. Recovery hinges heavily on consumers, who contribute about 60 per cent of the British economy. Yet many still seem more inclined to hoard money than spend it due to fears of more tax hikes in the autumn. A savings index compiled by GfK surged in July to the highest level since 2007. 'The implication is that the impact of rate cuts is going to be very gradual, amplified by the fact that the pace of cuts is also pretty glacial,' said James Smith, developed markets economist at ING. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up The UK central bank is widely expected to deliver a fifth quarter-point rate reduction to 4 per cent on Thursday amid signs that the labour market is weakening in response to Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves' April tax hikes and global trade tensions. But with inflation at a 17-month high, and hotter than the BOE projected in May, governor Andrew Bailey is likely to re-emphasise the need for caution over the pace of future easing. While the uptick has been driven by energy bills and other one-off factors, policymakers worry that workers may respond by bidding up wages to protect their purchasing power with knock-on effects on prices. Falling rates have cost households almost £5 billion in lost earnings on savings, including tax-free Individual Savings Accounts and time and sight deposits, according to calculations derived from the outstanding stock of cash deposits and effective interest rates over the past year. At the same time, interest costs on mortgages and unsecured debt, such as credit cards, are £6 billion a year higher than 12 months ago. The BOE says that the roll-off onto higher mortgage rates has further to run, with a typical borrower facing an additional £1,300 in annual home-loan payments in the next two years. Around 1 million are currently fixed above prevailing rates, meaning they will have to wait to reap the benefits of cheaper borrowing costs. The effective rate on Britain's £1.7 trillion mortgage stock has risen by almost 0.2 of a percentage point since July 2024, just before the first BOE cut. However, the rate on time deposits has fallen by 0.4 and by 0.2 on sight deposits, reducing returns on a combined £1.8 trillion of savings. Economists and traders expect the BOE to keep to its once-a-quarter easing cycle, putting rates on track to settle at around 3.5 per cent by next spring. That would still leave benchmark borrowing costs well above the sub-1 per cent levels seen in early 2022 before inflation took off into double digits. 'Alongside softer real pay growth and tighter fiscal policy, the lagged impact of past rate hikes on mortgagors will continue to weigh on consumer spending,' said Edward Allenby, UK economist at Oxford Economics. 'The BOE's rate-cutting cycle is unlikely to provide much of a tailwind for business investment and consumer spending over the next couple of years.' BLOOMBERG
Business Times
4 hours ago
- Business Times
Starbucks plans kiosks to cut long lines at airport locations
[CHICAGO] Starbucks is working on adding ordering kiosks to busy locations in the US that cater to on-the-go customers. The Seattle-based coffee chain has been exploring how to shorten lines at high-traffic places such as airports, chief operating officer Mike Grams said in an internal meeting this week, according to a recording reviewed by Bloomberg News. Snaking queues of caffeine-deprived travellers are a common sight at terminals around the US. 'Kiosks is one of those options that is a big priority for quarter four,' he said, referring to the company's fiscal period that runs to late September. The kiosks will likely go into select licensed locations, run by third parties that have an agreement with the company, that cater to people on the go. Baristas will still greet customers and hand their orders directly to them at stores with kiosks. The setup of licensed stores varies, with some featuring seating while others do not. These locations, which are often inside airports, grocery stores, universities and hospitals, account for about 40 per cent of the chain's more than 17,000 US locations. Starbucks announced in 2022 that it would introduce mobile ordering at airports, which mostly serve customers looking to get their drinks quickly as they make their way to their gates. Touchscreens allowing customers to place orders directly have proliferated at restaurants, including airport locations of chains such as McDonald's. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up 'Customer and partner feedback is fuelling rapid innovation across every Starbucks experience,' the company said in a statement, using its terminology for workers. Starbucks directly runs more than 10,000 locations in the US. Chief executive officer Brian Niccol's team is working to make these company-operated stores more welcoming by adding more comfortable seating, more outlets for charging devices and creating a cosier atmosphere. The overall strategy to reverse a prolonged sales slump also focuses on fostering more interactions between baristas and customers. The company is phasing out a pickup-only store format without seating that required customers to order on the app. The ordering kiosks would not go into traditional company-operated locations, Grams said, where people are more likely to consume their beverages on site and hang out. 'But for those speedy, time-sensitive customers that are going through, it's a big one,' Grams said. The company's shares declined 2.3 per cent this year to Thursday's close, lagging the 7.8 per cent rise in the S&P 500 Index. BLOOMBERG
CNA
7 hours ago
- CNA
A homesick craving inspired her to launch a Singaporean supper club and food brand in London
It was a comforting bowl of bak chor mee (minced meat noodle) that changed it all. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Megan Tan was living in London and working as a finance lawyer. With the city in lockdown, her homesick roommate was craving local Singaporean food. 'It was her birthday and we couldn't go anywhere. I wanted to do something thoughtful for her, so I asked her what her favourite dish was. It was bak chor mee, so I Googled a recipe and made it for the first time,' Tan, 30, recalled. That simple act of cooking for a friend was enough to spark a realisation in Tan for two reasons. 'First, it was the feeling of making something with my own two hands. And second, it was making something that I love so much, and that she loved so much too, and the joy that it brought to the both of us.' In fact, Tan enjoyed the experience of cooking for others so much that for the rest of the lockdown, she started opening up orders for dishes such as wonton mee, Hokkien mee and carrot cake on her Instagram. During the weekends, she would cook the dishes and cycle out to deliver them herself. 'I had a lot of fun and I think it gave me a lot of meaning and human connection at a time when it was very short in supply,' Tan, a self-professed extrovert, reflected. Eventually, she launched Homi Kitchen, a supper club run out of her apartment where she serves Singaporean dishes to guests. What started as a nostalgic dinner for her social bubble soon evolved into something bigger. Beyond the supper club, Tan is on a mission to create a brand that can make 'Singaporean flavours easily accessible on supermarket shelves for everyone in the UK', said the young entrepreneur. In early 2025, Tan went on to launch her first product – the Giga Chicken Rice Chilli sauce, a flavour-packed condiment inspired by one Singapore's most beloved dishes, with more products already in the pipeline. FROM LAW TO LOCAL FLAVOURS Born and raised in Singapore, Tan grew up in a three-generation household in Serangoon, with her grandmother, an avid cook, cooking Teochew dishes every day for the family. 'She's the queen of the kitchen. I would try to help, but quite often I would be making things worse,' Tan recalled with a laugh. It wasn't until she studied law at the University of Oxford in the UK that she began experimenting with cooking herself. 'I missed food from home, and the funny thing is, I didn't have a kitchen in my college accommodation. I only had a rice cooker, and I had all my sauces and ingredients in a box.' She made do with the limited setup, cooking Asian comfort dishes such as chicken curry and katsu curry in that one pot. She often invited friends to gather in her room for dinner, who brought over their own bowls and cutlery. After completing her legal training back in Singapore, Tan made the jump to move to London full-time. 'Within the legal industry, London is one of the big hot spots for top-notch firms and teams. It is also a very international, cosmopolitan city,' she said of the move. A few years into her legal career, Tan quickly realised that her true passion laid elsewhere. 'What sparked the greatest joy for me was being in the consumer retail space, and seeing my customers really enjoying my food and being grateful for the comfort that a simple bowl of noodles brought them,' said Tan. Homi Kitchen was a way for her to indulge in her love for cooking while balancing a demanding day job. 'Why I started the supper club was to also test my theory that there's a growing interest in Singaporean food in the UK. It was a way to meet people who weren't necessarily from Singapore or Malaysia to find out how they know about the cuisine and why they were curious enough to try it,' Tan explained. For her very first supper club, Tan whipped up a Hainanese chicken rice feast. Later on, the menus featured other Singaporean hawker favourites such as carrot cake, wonton mee and even a chilli crab and black pepper crab session. Seats are usually priced around £25 (S$42). At the table, 'there was always a mix of nationalities, which is reflective of life in London,' said Tan. Despite the success of the supper club, Tan knew that if she were to leave her job, it would not be to continue hosting private dinners. Instead, she had bigger ambitions. 'Here in London, we already have a growing number of Singaporean and Malaysian restaurants. We have Singapulah, which still has long queues months after opening, and we've got Old Chang Kee as well, so I don't think London necessarily needs another restaurant,' said Tan. 'I think what the UK is lacking is authentic Singaporean flavours on grocery shelves.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Homi Kitchen (@ From her very first supper club session, where she served Hainanese chicken rice, Tan was already toying with the idea of selling the accompanying chilli sauce she had made from scratch. Over time, she used each supper club as a testing ground, gathering feedback from her diners. 'I wanted to get a good sense of what would be a great product that people actually want,' she said. 'By the time I left my job, I had a very clear idea of what the product would be and the kind of people who would be interested in the brand.' COOKING UP A BRAND With the Giga Chilli Sauce, Tan wants to bridge the gap between home-cooked meals and dining out at a restaurant. The condiment is meant to help home cooks add interesting, familiar flavours to their dishes with minimal effort. Tan's customers have been creative in the way they use the sauce too. Beyond pairing it with chicken rice, they have slathered it on sandwiches or stirred it into their takeaway pho from the nearby Vietnamese restaurant. At one of Homi Kitchen's pop-up events, Tan even created a 'chicken rice cocktail' in the form of a spicy margarita with the chilli sauce as a base, in collaboration with a bar in Camden market. Customers interested in the Giga Chilli Sauce can currently purchase it online on Homi Kitchen's website. The condiment is also stocked at grocers, food courts and delis such as Raya at Borough Market, Eat 17 on Orford Road, Polhill Farm Shop at London Road and Harvest E1 on Brick Lane. The name Homi Kitchen – a playful twist on 'home' that also means 'homie', as in friend – reflects Tan's dual vision for the brand. 'As I started out as a homerun supper club, I wanted people to feel at home with the brand. It's also a reminder to myself that my focus is also on getting my products into other people's homes.' The brand wants to share the 'crazy rich flavours of Singapore" beyond its shores, as its tagline encapsulates. And for Tan, the chilli sauce is just the beginning. 'Right now, it's just chilli sauce, but long-term, the other products I have in mind are stuff like ready made char kway teow that you can pop into the microwave,' Tan elaborated. 'Of course, it will never be as good as going to your favourite store in Singapore, but my goal is to get as close as humanly and to fill that gap for someone who misses local food, or someone who is curious about the cuisine.' Tan is already working on Homi Kitchen's next condiment, the Hei Hei Black Pepper Sauce, slated to launch soon. 'At my black pepper and chilli crab supper club, some of the guests loved the black pepper sauce so much that they asked if I was going to start selling it,' shared Tan. 'I started looking into it and making the sauce for people to try at my events, putting them on things like tater tots just to get people to see it as something different and seeing how it lands. People really loved the flavour.' FINDING PURPOSE Giving up a prestigious career in law to pursue an uncharted path is a bold move. 'Growing up in Asia, and maybe especially in my generation, you are brought up to study hard to secure a good, stable job for the rest of your life,' said Tan, who attended Raffles Girls School and later Raffles Institution in Singapore. 'Reflecting on my younger years, part of why I chased a law career was because my friends were doing so,' Tan reflected. 'But as objectively desirable I knew a law career is for many people, eventually I had to accept that I would never be 100 per cent happy.' Stepping into entrepreneurship is 'unfamiliar territory' for her family, who do not come from a business background. While her parents were initially worried she was making a rash decision, they supported her wholeheartedly. Tan makes regular trips back to Singapore to spend time with her family. Her go-to dish when she's home? A comforting bowl of bak chor mee. Back in London, Tan continues to host supper club sessions while developing new products for Homi Kitchen. In June, she hosted two sold-out events in collaboration with Hong Kong milk tea brand Chadong. On the menu were dishes such as Hei Hei Pepper Pork Belly, Hainanese Chicken Rice and Popiah, while Chadong contributed milk bread prawn toast, lychee and lime granita and Hong Kong French toast ice cream bars. Despite the uncertainties that lie with entrepreneurship, Tan has found a sense of purpose in building something of her own. 'Whatever the outcome, I can say that I already find this journey meaningful,' she reflected. 'This is something I intrinsically want to do. No one needs to tell me that I'm doing a good job, or that it's the right thing to do. It still feels right for me."
