Stripe joins $93 million investment into U.K. banking startup Monzo
Monzo, a U.K.-based startup building a mobile-first banking service, has raised £71 million ($93 million) in a round of funding from Stripe, Goodwater Capital, Sequoia’s Michael Moritz, Passion Capital, Thrive Capital, and Orange Digital Ventures.
This latest tranche takes the company’s total funding to £106 million ($140 million) and values the London-based startup at £280 million ($366 million).
Founded in 2015, Monzo is one of a number of so-called “challenger banks” setting out to compete with larger incumbents by catering to millennials with a service built with smartphones in mind.
Above: Monzo app
Elsewhere, fellow U.K.-based banking startups Starling Bank and Atom Bankhave raked in $70 million and $220 million respectively, while Germany’s Peter Thiel-backed N26 — funded to the tune of around $50 million — just announced that it will be launching in the U.K. next year.
Though Monzo is open to the public just now, it’s operating a queuing system for current (checking) accounts, so there may be a wait before people are able to use the service. It has also offered a prepaid card since 2015, which has helped the company accrue more than half a million users.
With another $93 million in the, um, bank, the company said that it plans to double down on its hiring efforts and expedite the rollout of current accounts.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for people to manage and make the most of their money, to give people total visibility and control over all of their finances, and offer them their pick of the best products that the market has to offer,” said Monzo CEO Tom Blomfield. “To help us achieve our ambition, we will continue to hire talented people, focus on building the best product, and bring Monzo to as many people as possible.”
Nabbing fintech heavyweight Stripe as an investor is notable, as this cash injection represents only the second startup that the San Francisco-based payments processor has invested in — the other one being open source currency exchange network Stellar back in 2014.
