British digital banking startup Monzo is on course to ask investors for investment for a third time since the start of the pandemic, topping up a round that began in the summer of last year with another £50m.
A person close to the firm told Sifted that the top-up comes after Monzo fielded more demand from investors in response to “strong revenue growth and performance despite the pandemic”.
The additional investment of £50m, which has not yet been fully signed off, brings the digital bank’s total fundraising during the Covid-19 crisis to more than £170m.
The money will come from existing shareholders and one new investor, the Silicon Valley firm Octahedron Capital, according to reports.
Monzo now has close to 5m customers and weekly revenues are 30% higher than they were prior to the pandemic, the person close to the firm said.
Boosting the business’s financial performance has been a key priority for TS Anil, who took over from founder Tom Blomfield as chief executive in May 2020. Blomfield carried on in the role of president but left the startup for good in January.
In July of 2020, the startup reported an annual post-tax loss of £113.8m for the financial year 2020, more than double what it lost the previous year.
In the same month, Monzo’s premium account — Monzo Plus — went live, offering customers exclusive features and cheaper products for £5 a month. Monzo Premium, with still more perks for £15 a month, launched in October. The neobank has amassed more than 100k paid subscribers across the two accounts during the past five months.
With a new US CEO, increased revenues and plenty of job openings at Monzo, are things really as bad as the media makes out? For now, at least it seems that it is business as usual at Hot Coral HQ.
First seen on Sifted Source
