Monzo, the London-based digital bank has raised $430 million in funding to boost its expansion. The round was led by CapitalG, Alphabet’s independent growth fund that has backed companies, including Stripe and Airbnb. It also saw participation from global tech investors, including GV (Google Ventures) and HSG (HongShan Capital), and existing backers – Passion Capital and Tencent (backed Curacel and OnTime).
Previously, Monzo secured over $500 million in an oversubscribed funding round in 2021. The latest funding increased its post-money valuation to $5 billion from the previous $4.5 billion.
Boosts expansion plans
The new capital will be used to accelerate Monzo’s expansion plans following a year of record growth that saw the company move into profitability, attract millions more customers and launch a range of new products. The funding will further fuel a rich product roadmap as the business continues to make strides on its ambition to build the one app customers turn to to manage their entire financial lives.
TS Anil, CEO of Monzo said: “We’ve built incredible momentum in the business over the past few years which has led to us reaching more than 9 million customers, turning profitable and launching even more ground-breaking products. With backing from global investors, we have the rocket fuel to go after our ambitions harder and faster, building Monzo into the one app that sits at the centre of our customers’ financial lives. Each milestone we’ve reached to this point has given us more strength and speed to make strides towards our mission – now we’ll scale to even greater heights and seize the huge opportunity ahead.”
Gene Frantz, General Partner at CapitalG said: “We’re thrilled to lead this investment round in Monzo. In an industry long rife with stagnation and uninspired customer service, Monzo has emerged as the innovative, customer-centric bank that consumers have long craved. Led by CEO TS Anil, Monzo is an exceptional company combining the best of banking and technology. We’re excited to support Monzo’s journey to provide customers in the UK and beyond with unique and inspiring digital experiences that they can depend on for all of their financial needs.”
New product launches
Monzo was founded by Tom Blomfield, Paul Rippon, Gary Dolman, Jonas Huckestein, and Jason Bates in 2015. Initially launched as a prepaid card that lets customers open an account for free online and receive spending notifications in real-time and manage their finances, the London fintech has grown into a full-fledged platform offering social features, premium accounts with additional perks and tools, virtual account creation and management tools, money management features, and more.
Monzo has over 9 million retail customers, of which 2 million joined in 2023 alone. Also, it bags over 400,000 business customers. This growth comes came alongside its growth in review by over two-folds in the last financial year.
Besides moving into profitability in early 2023, Monzo launched a slew of new features. It launched Instant Access Savings and Monzo Investments in 2023 with other features such as Cashback, Mortgage Tracker and the industry-first Call Status fraud prevention tool.
