Digital bank for migrants and expats, Monese, raises $10m
Digital bank Monese coming to Europe
Monese, a mobile-only bank founded by Norris Koppel, an Estonian expat in London, has raised $10 million in Series A funding round as it looks to go pan-European.
Anthemis Exponential Ventures, STE Capital, and Korea Investment Partners were among the new investors. For the latter, this is the first investment in the European start-up.
The bank’s early backers SmartCap and Seecamp also participated in the funding round.
CEO Koppel says “the money raised will be key in helping us launch Euro current accounts and become available to customers in other European markets as well as a host of new features like direct debit and credit services”.
Total capital raised by Monese now stands at $15.8 million.
It says it’s signed up 40,000+ customers from 179 different countries since its launch in September 2015. Collectively, they have made over 1.8 million transactions worth £150 million, according to Monese.
Customers can open a UK current account with Monese on their mobile in as little as three minutes, without a UK address or credit history.
The account comes with a Visa card and a monthly charge of £4.95. There are also additional charges for things like currency exchange and ATM withdrawals.
“2017 will be an incredible year for Monese, with various plans to grow our company and expand our services, so watch this space!” the bank states on its website.
With so many new entrants trying to muscle into the UK banking sector, Banking Technology has put together a comprehensive list of the known challengers to date and the technology they are using.
