London-based fintech Meniga, a provider of personal finance management solutions, has raised €15 million in Series D funding. The round included participation from major European banks, including Groupe BPCE and Crédito Agrícola, and the leading Icelandic VC group, Omega ehf. With several existing shareholders continuing their participation, it brings the total investment raised by Meniga to €55 million.
The funding will be used to clear debt and support Meniga as it scales, enhancing its core capabilities and payments functionality.
Already in the pockets of millions of users
Founded in Iceland, Meniga already works with many leading banks, meaning that its solutions are currently serving over 100 million customers across 30 countries with additional offices in Reykjavik, Stockholm, Warsaw, Singapore and Barcelona. It means that customers of major banks like UOB, UniCredit, Groupe BPCE, Crédito Agrícola, Swedbank, and Commercial Bank of Dubai, already benefit from Meniga’s insights.
“Meniga provides a vast product suite that allows customers total transparency in controlling cashflow, providing concise and clear financial insight, and even allows customers insight into the carbon footprint of their spending,” Raj Soni, Meniga’s CEO, who joined the company earlier this year tells TFN.
However, Meniga’s solutions are tailored, ensuring that each bank gets an individual and comprehensive solution. This means that Meniga empowers banks to offer everything from a traditional banking app, to innovative solutions. Examples include moey!, which was developed to help Crédito Agrícola meet competition from challenger banks, or UOB’s Meniga-powered TMRW app which allows customers can gamify their saving with a city-building game.
Although Meniga doesn’t partner any UK retail banks, this is set to change in 2024. “We already have a strong pipeline in the UK,” says Soni, “and we hope to have a UK bank in our portfolio in 2024.”
Already a proven solution
It’s notable that many of the investors in Meniga are users of the technology. Emmanuel Puga Pereira is Chief Digital Officer at Groupe BPCE, France’s second-largest banking group, said, “we have seen firsthand how Meniga’s solution is a key component for banks to succeed.” That experience was a key driver behind their participation in the Series D funding, “we are excited to continue our partnership with Meniga, which currently empowers the digital banking experience for our over 10 million users, and provides more than 100 million insights for our users every year.”
Founded in 2009 by Georg Ludviksson and brothers Asgeir Asgeirsson and Viggo Asgeirsson, the company is an award-winner too. It has taken home ‘Best of Show’ from Finovate Fall and Finovate Europe six times. Adding those accolades to the ‘Best Digital Banking Vendor’ title at the Banking Tech Awards, ‘Best Company’ at the European FinTech Awards, and three appearances on the FinTech50 list.
And that proven record also attracted Omega ehf. Their director, Sigthor Sigmarsson, commented that, “we look forward to working with Meniga to achieve its focused growth strategy, based on proven products, strong international customer portfolio and seasoned leadership team.”
Leveraging open banking to inform and empower customers
Although no two Meniga solutions will look the same, they all use Open Banking to power the data and insights that they offer. It means that banks, and ultimately customers, are in control of their data. However, with Meniga able to offer services like automatic budgeting, savings, and even UOB’s gamified experience, customers have embraced the opportunity, says Soni, “customers are receptive to granting access because it reduces complexity and improves end user experience.”
The funding will support Meniga’s growth as it follows the strategy devised by Soni after his arrival in summer. As well as clearing Meniga’s debt, it will see the company simplify its product portfolio while diversifying beyond banks, targeting customers in emerging markets across the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. They will also be adding operational hubs to support their growth, adding to their current offices in London, Reykjavík, Stockholm, and Warsaw.
At the heart of Meniga’s success, says Soni, is their flexibility, “we do not decide how individual banks choose how to engage with their customers.” Instead, he says, Meniga seeks to “empower them with our sophisticated technological toolkit to engage the consumers they support as they see best.” The result is a diverse portfolio of solutions that may not look alike, but share an impressive record of engagement by customers, by making it simple for those customers to engage with their finance, whether it’s through graphs or games.
For Soni, though, that is at the heart of Meniga’s success so far, and its strategy for the future, “our mission is to make banking as easy and supportive as possible for both banks and customers alike.”
