Money Goes Ecosystem

The shift toward ecosystem-based business models is redefining how digital value is created and captured. Instead of standalone products, platforms increasingly aim to integrate multiple services into one user environment. What started with broad consumer all-in-one ecosystems like WeChat is now being replicated in more focused verticals, where finance is the most advanced example. In Europe, this is reflected in Revolut; in the US, in Robinhood; and in emerging markets, in Freedom Holding Corp., which represents an already-built financial and multi-industry ecosystem being actively scaled across new geographies globally.

Capital markets are betting hard on ecosystem players. Elon Musk is pushing X toward an 'everything app' model, integrating social, payments, and financial services into a single platform, like China's WeChat, the current leader in the global super-app race. And there's a strong economic rationale behind it.

McKinsey analysts argue that the shift from industry sectors to customer-focused ecosystems may be the largest economic reorganisation in history. 'We expect the total revenue of these ecosystems to reach $70-$100 trillion by 2030. This would account for about 30 percent of the global economy, over 40 percent of total profits, and more than half of profits above the cost of capital', according to a recent report.

Ecosystems on the rise

Ecosystems achieve these results through cost reductions. Ernst & Young, in its report 'The CEO Imperative: How mastering ecosystems transforms performance', finds that making ecosystem business models a strategic imperative helps companies drive stakeholder value. Its study of over 800 business leaders using at least one ecosystem business model revealed that 'ecosystems make up an average of 13.7% of total annual revenues, drive 12.9% in cost reduction, and generate 13.3% in incremental earnings.' High-performing ecosystems, according to Ernst & Young, 'achieve 1.5 times the cost reduction and 2.1 times the incremental revenue growth compared to low-performing ecosystems.' As Alibaba states in its 2025 annual report, 'our ecosystem enables us to realise structural cost savings'. Network effects enable lower traffic-acquisition costs and synergies across our businesses, the group explains.

Another advantage - additional revenue streams from partnerships. In its report '2025 RevOps Trends: The New Backbone of B2B Sales Growth', Deloitte shows that companies are increasingly treating partners as a primary source of revenue, not just an extra channel. In the most advanced ecosystem models, partners can generate over 50% of total revenue, mainly through commissions and shared sales inside the platform, allowing companies to grow without building bigger sales teams, according to the report.

Another ecosystem benefit is data monetisation. Ecosystems gain an informational edge from ongoing access to users' daily behavioral data. For instance, if a user regularly pays rent with an app and starts looking for larger apartments or mortgage rates, the system can anticipate intent and proactively offer a mortgage or property insurance at the right moment.

Revolut – Building a Banking Super-App

Revolut was founded in London in 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko as a low-cost app for currency exchange and international payments. In Europe (outside the UK), it obtained a banking license in Lithuania in 2018, which allowed it to operate as a bank across EU and EEA markets and offer services such as accounts, cards, and lending. In the UK, it operated for years as an e-money institution and only received a full banking license in 2026, enabling it to provide full banking services in its home market.

Over time, Revolut has evolved from a payments-focused fintech launched in 2015 into a global financial super-app. It expanded beyond basic currency exchange and international transfers into a full ecosystem that includes banking services, savings, credit, investing, crypto, insurance, and business tools, enabling users to manage most of their financial needs within a single platform.

The company has expanded into international markets, including the US and Latin America. In the US, it operates as a regulated fintech through state-level money transmitter licenses and banking partnerships rather than a full banking license. In Latin America, Revolut has begun building a banking presence, including obtaining regulatory approval in Mexico in 2024 to launch its digital banking operations.

As of 2025, Revolut has over 68 million customers and generates approximately $6 billion in annual revenue.

Robinhood – Turning Investing into a Platform

While Revolut is building a broader financial ecosystem around banking, payments, and everyday financial services, Robinhood is an investing-first platform that monetises trading activity.

It was founded in the United States in 2013 by Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt as a commission-free investing app aimed at retail users. Over time, Robinhood expanded beyond stock trading into crypto, margin investing, retirement accounts, and cash management services through partner banks. Its revenue comes from interest on customer cash, margin lending, subscriptions, and trading-related revenues from financial partners to execute customer orders.

The company operates mainly in the US, with limited international presence in the UK and EU for selected crypto and trading services. It has about 27 million active users with funded accounts, over $300 billion in assets on the platform, generating roughly $4–5 billion in annual revenue.

Vlad Tenev has described Robinhood as 'the number one global financial ecosystem', while Nikolay Storonsky has consistently framed Revolut's strategy as building 'a global financial super-app' and 'a platform with multiple products, not a single-product company.'

Freedom Holding Corp. — Scaling an Integrated Financial Ecosystem

Freedom Holding Corp., founded by Timur Turlov in 2008, sits in a different category from more traditional financial ecosystems like Robinhood and Revolut. While those platforms are primarily finance-first super-apps, Freedom Holding is building a broader digital ecosystem that extends beyond investing and banking into a wider consumer and services layer, making it closer to WeChat or X. Unlike them, it is based not on the messenger but on the finance layer, gradually extending beyond it into adjacent services and digital offerings across its markets.

In its home market of Kazakhstan, Freedom Holding Corp. operates the country's largest brokerage by both clients and assets, while its broader brokerage network spans Europe, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, the UAE, and Turkey. Its insurance and banking businesses are also among the largest in the country, with the latter serving as the backbone of a SuperApp that integrates financial services (brokerage, banking, insurance), lifestyle offerings (grocery, travel, ticketing, food delivery, including drone delivery), and telecom infrastructure (connectivity and commercial data centers, along with AI capabilities developed in partnership with global players such as Nvidia). Freedom Holding is also building a media layer, including its own news feed and social features.

Having proven this model in Kazakhstan, Freedom Holding Corp. is now extending it to other markets, including Tajikistan and Turkey. In Tajikistan, Freedom is gradually rolling out a digital bank that will serve as the foundation for additional services. In Turkey, the group has received approval to establish a brokerage firm and has signed an agreement to acquire a 99.32% stake in Turkish Bank A.Ş. Over the next few years, the holding plans to invest around $300 million in developing its banking and brokerage operations, which will form the basis for a broader ecosystem rollout. 'Our goal in Turkey is not just to grow the balance sheet, but to achieve broad user reach. We intend to bring our super-app model to the Turkish market', explained Timur Turlov, CEO and founder of Freedom Holding Corp.

Timur Turlov believes the future lies in ecosystems rather than standalone products or services. 'It's about being part of people's daily lives, not just transactions: when someone uses our brokerage, takes out a mortgage from our bank in a day, consumes content through our media, and sends their children to study on our education platform. Of course, this requires broader capabilities, stronger management, and more patience. But the value creation potential is fundamentally higher.'