(Bloomberg) -- One of Revolut Ltd.’s shareholders thinks the firm is 45% more valuable than a year ago, in a sign that investors are starting to thaw on the fintech sector. 

An investment trust managed by Schroders Plc disclosed a £2.45 million writeup for its Revolut holding on March 28. That brought the valuation of the stake held by Schroders Capital Global Innovation Trust to £7.88 million as of Dec. 31, from £5.44 million a year earlier. 

While Schroders’s stake is small, it implies that the overall valuation of Revolut has improved to about $25.7 billion, up from $17.7 billion last year. Still, this is below the $33 billion valuation Revolut achieved in a funding round in 2021, around the peak of the fintech boom. In the years since, concerns about the impact of higher interest rates on profitability have dragged on many fast-growing finance firms. 

The Schroders fund said in its annual report that Revolut had made “solid progress” in the last year and credited the company with continuing an ambitious international expansion of its services as it explained the reasons for its revaluation of the stake.

Revolut published its delayed 2022 accounts in December, saying revenue had grown to just over $1 billion. The London-based firm is adding about a million new customers a month, while it awaits a decision on a long-awaited UK banking license that would allow it to expand into more services in its home market. 

Revolut declined to comment on the Schroders figures.

The Schroders fund invests in a number of finance, science and technology companies. One of its biggest holdings is a stake in UK fintech Atom Bank, which it wrote down 27% to reflect a funding round last year at a lower valuation. 

“Whilst the valuation impact of this fundraise is disappointing in the short term, this significant investment should be viewed as a good signal of confidence in Atom Bank,” the fund said in its annual report. “The company now has the capital to scale up and demonstrate the operating efficiency of its platform. Although much work remains, Atom Bank is one step closer to a planned future liquidity event.”

--With assistance from Harry Wilson.

(Updates to add detail on Atom Bank stake valuation in final two paragraphs. An earlier version corrected date of Schroders fund report in second paragraph.)

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