Nik Storonsky built Revolut. His second act is villas under a brand called Utopia Design. The Revolut cofounder set up a company called Utopia Design in 2023 and said nothing about it publicly. Forbes broke the story in June 2025, in a report by Iain Martin. Utopia is building high-end holiday villas in three places: Cabarete in the Dominican Republic, Jericoacoara in Brazil, and Pedralbes, an affluent district of Barcelona. All three sit beside kitesurfing water that Storonsky himself uses, which is not a coincidence.
What Utopia Design is
Utopia describes itself as an architectural firm and a property developer. The Utopia pitch is short: unique experiences in unique locations. That places Utopia closer to a developer of branded residences than to a Marriott or a Hyatt.
Money comes from Storonsky's family office rather than outside investors. The parent company is called Kiteway and is registered in the British Virgin Islands. Kiteway, as a name, is a fair clue to the strategy.
Three locations, one shared feature
Look at the map and the logic appears. Each site has world-class kitesurfing:
- Cabarete, Dominican Republic. A town on the Dominican north coast known for wind and waves. Cabarete has drawn kiteboarders for decades.
- Jericoacoara, Brazil. A former fishing village in Ceará, in the country's north-east. Steady trade winds made Jericoacoara a kite destination.
- Pedralbes, Barcelona. An expensive residential district in a city with wind on its coast and an airport an hour from everything.
Storonsky kitesurfs himself. Choosing three kite spots for a first Utopia portfolio reads as a founder building what he wants to use. Does that instinct match paying demand? Nobody knows yet, because no Utopia property is finished.
What the company has shown so far
Not much, deliberately. The Utopia website carries a "coming soon" banner and job listings. Alongside that the company has published architectural illustrations: villas, pools, cabanas and an outdoor gym.
The Utopia job board says more than the renderings. Utopia has been recruiting architects, designers, engineers and construction managers for two years. Utopia has also hired people who have run luxury hotels and restaurants. A developer who intends to sell villas and walk away has no use for restaurant managers. That mix points to properties Utopia plans to operate.
Why a fintech founder builds villas
Revolut made Storonsky a billionaire. A family office needs somewhere to put capital. Luxury property has two features that suit a Revolut-scale fortune. It absorbs large sums per project. It also rewards patience, because a villa scheme takes years from land to guests.
Compare it with the alternative. Launching a travel booking platform would put Utopia against established companies with enormous marketing budgets. A villa scheme in Jericoacoara competes with almost nobody, because the supply of luxury beds in a former fishing village is thin by definition.
What it means for travellers
Nothing immediate. There are no published opening dates, no rates and no booking channel. Anyone reading about Utopia in 2026 is reading about a construction programme, not a hotel they can visit.
Three things are worth watching if the segment interests you:
- Whether Utopia operates or sells. Hospitality hires suggest operating. Confirmation would come from the first booking page.
- Which site opens first. Barcelona has the shortest path, since Pedralbes has infrastructure that Jericoacoara does not.
- Whether the kite theme stays. A brand built around one sport reaches a narrow audience; a brand built around remote luxury reaches a wide one.
Getting to each site today
None of these places is hard to reach, which matters for a villa business. Guests who need two connections and a four-hour transfer book once and never return.
Cabarete sits about 20 minutes east of Puerto Plata on Hispaniola's north shore. Gregorio Luperón International, airport code POP, serves it directly from North America and Europe. Santo Domingo lies roughly four hours away by road, so most visitors use Puerto Plata instead.
Jericoacoara was reachable only by 4x4 across dunes for years. Jericoacoara Airport, code JJD, opened near Cruz and cut that journey to a short transfer. Fortaleza, capital of Ceará, remains the main gateway with international flights, about 300 kilometres away.
Pedralbes needs no explanation. Barcelona El Prat handles flights from most of Europe daily, and Pedralbes lies 20 minutes from that airport by road. This district holds a 14th-century monastery, expensive housing and quiet streets, which is why villa developers look at it.
Three sites, three very different construction problems. Barcelona brings planning rules and neighbours. Ceará brings distance from suppliers. Cabarete brings hurricane season, which runs from June to November across Caribbean waters.
Where Storonsky himself now lives
Forbes reported in October 2025 that Storonsky relocated to Dubai, joining other wealthy founders leaving London after tax changes. That move does not touch Utopia directly, though it says something about where a family office of this size prefers to sit. Dubai also sits within a short flight of kitesurfing water at Ras Al Khaimah and Oman, for whatever that is worth to a founder picking locations.
The wider pattern
Utopia fits an older trend. Wealthy founders keep moving into hospitality. The reason is structural: a villa is a physical asset with a brand attached, and Revolut was neither. The Storonsky version is unusual mainly in its quiet. Two years passed between 2023 and the Forbes report of June 2025.
Ceará and the Dominican north coast matter here. Both have tourism. Neither has much at the top of the market. A villa scheme in Jericoacoara is not competing for the guest who chose Rio; it is creating a reason for a different guest to fly to Fortaleza.
What is verified, and what is not
Verified: Utopia Design was set up in 2023; Kiteway is the British Virgin Islands parent; the family office funds it; the three sites are Cabarete, Jericoacoara and Pedralbes; the company has been hiring across architecture, construction and hospitality; renderings exist; Forbes reported the venture in June 2025.
Not verified, and stated nowhere by Utopia: opening dates, nightly rates, how many villas each site holds, whether any property will take public bookings, and how much capital Storonsky has committed. Treat any article that gives you those numbers with suspicion, because the company has not published them.