Digital bank Monzo is reportedly holding discussions with various large investors about potentially raising additional funds. Following its upcoming investment round, the company might become one of the UK’s largest Fintech startups.
According to sources on the matter, Monzo is in talks with investors, some of which are large City institutions, about raising anywhere between £50 million ($65 million) and £100 million (appr. $131 million) by early 2020.
Monzo’s decision to consider raising more capital has come after the company secured £113 million in new equity funding from several venture capitalists earlier in 2019 as part of a transaction that valued digital bank at over £2 billion (appr. $2.6 billion).
Since then, Monzo has been expanding its business operations. Monzo claims it now has around 3.5 million clients and 1,500 staff members on its payroll. But it remains unclear whether the upcoming investment round will value Monzo higher than what the company was estimated to be worth previously.
Monzo was launched by tech entrepreneur Tom Blomfield in 2015. The firm initially raised capital at an £8 million valuation.
Monzo has become increasingly popular among users under the age of 40 who like to use the bank’s coral-colored debit cards and its banking app which places people’s account balance into different spending and budgeting categories.
Monzo’s latest fundraising announcement has come after a potential deal that could see competitor Revolut, a leading digital bank and payments firm, valued at around £6 billion (appr. $7.9 billion).
US-headquartered Technology Crossover Ventures, an early stage Airbnb, Netflix, and Spotify investor, is reportedly in talks about taking part in an £385 million Revolut equity fundraising round.