The challenger bank announced today a total raise of £71m in its latest investment round, led by Goodwater Capital and Stripe. Investor Michael Moritz also made large contributions through his charitable investment vehicles, including the Crankstart Foundation.
Additionally, previous backers Passion Capital, Thrive Capital and Digital Ventures all re-invested. A further £1.5million was set aside from the round to allow its existing crowd investors to take part via Crowdcube.
Today’s news brings Monzo’s total valuation to £280m. This is almost double its previous valuation from February, after it closed a £19.6m Series C with an additional £2.5m via crowdfunding earlier this year.
The digital bank also announced today that its user numbers have also seen a 300 per cent increase since February, raising its total user numbers from 120,000 to 470,000. These are larger numbers than its closest competitors, despite falling behind in other areas after recent advancements made by rival Starling Bank in payment integration and third-party marketplace.
However, Tom Blomfield, CEO at Monzo, seems undeterred, saying: “This is an incredible endorsement of our strategy so far, and sets us up to continue the growth we’ve seen into 2018.”
Though the bank launched with its prepaid debit card in late 2015, it is currently in the process of rolling out its current account to all existing users, with 20,000 accounts already live.
Monzo has said that the latest funding will be used to strengthen the bank’s latest hiring efforts as it manages the account migration process, and hopes to re-open new user sign ups to the wider public at the start of 2018.
Chi-Hua Chien, managing partner of Goodwater Capital, also commented on the rise of users: “Monzo’s growth in the UK has been incredible, and the fact that it’s been driven by word of mouth makes it even more exciting. Customers love Monzo because the company treats them right, solves their problems, and does so with total transparency.”
