Monzo held discussions with SoftBank over fresh funding, says report

Monzo CEO Tom Blomfield has held meetings with senior investors at Japanese tech investor SoftBank, as it looks for fresh funds to propel its US expansion, according to a report.

The report claims that Blomfield, who co-founded Monzo in 2015, twice met senior personnel from SoftBank Vision Fund, according to sources The Sunday Telegraph spoke to.

It said the banking startup is looking to raise around £100m in new funding.

According to the report, Blomfield first met SoftBank investors more than 12 months ago and also visited its Mayfair office this year.

Discussions are at an early stage and a funding deal has not been reached between Monzo and SoftBank, the report says.

Monzo has not denied the report, but is not commenting publicly on it.

SoftBank, which has backed or acquired tech firms including Uber, Slack and ARM, has taken an active interest in the European tech scene.

It has invested $390m (£298m)in B2B fintech OakNorth as well as taking a mammoth $800m (£612) investment in Geensill, the invoice financing business.

Its other investments include $900m (£688m) in German payments company Wirecard.

In June last year, Monzo raised $144m (£110m) in a fresh round of funding led by the US startup accelerator Y Combinator.

Y Combinator, which has helped create companies like Airbnb and Stripe, invested in Monzo through its Community Fund, which focused on late-stage startups.

Reports first surfaced last year about Monzo's plans to launch in the US. 

It has recently beefed up its offensive on the US market with the appointment of its first dedicated CEO to oversee its operations across the Atlantic.