The Estonian-founded, UK-based fintech startup Monese announced it has secured USD 60 million in series B funding.
The London-based Monese, with an office also in Tallinn, offers a mobile-only current account and targets customers with a low credit score and expats who have moved to a new country.
The company was founded in the UK by the Estonian entrepreneur, Norris Koppel, in 2013 and currently employs 140 people. Koppel got the idea for the company through personal experience. When he first arrived in the UK in early 2000s, his application for a current account at a major high-street bank was declined because he could not provide local proof of address and did not yet have a credit history in the country – a common problem for a huge number of recent immigrants.
No credit checks
Monese’s service was launched in the UK in 2015, offering a mobile-based current account and accompanying debit card that supports cash deposits and withdrawals. There are no credit checks and customers don’t need local proof of address. As of 2018, the company claims to have nearly 600,000 users who are moving over USD2.5 billion a year.
Monese said in a statement that the funding will be used to increase the size of the company and for an international expansion. More people will be recruited at their London and Tallinn offices and a new office will be opened in Lisbon, Portugal.
The funding was led by Kinnevik, a global investor focused on digital businesses, with the participation of PayPal, Augmentum Fintech and International Airlines Group (the owner of British Airways and Iberia) for its loyalty and data business Avios Group Ltd. Existing investors also participated.
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Cover: A Monese debit card.
