Fintech current account provider Monese has secured $60 million as part of its Series B funding.
The round was led by Swedish investment company Kinnevik with participation from PayPal, fintech VC Augmentum Fintech and International Airlines Group as well as Investec’s INVC Fund.
The investment, which will be used to improve product development and expand the firm internationally, brings its total funding to $76 million and allows Monese to make its financial services accessible to more users.
What is Monese?
The UK and Estonian-based company, which is targeting expats and migrants, allows people to open an account within two minutes without providing citizenship, proof-of-address or credit history.
The firm allows eligible customers to open European IBAN accounts in 20 countries, made possible by KYC (Know Your Customer) checks.
Monese says the majority of its customers use their current account as their main salary account. Users can also track their spending through a budgeting tool within the app.
Since launch in 2015, the firm has just under 600,000 users across the UK and Europe with new monthly customers trebling since the end of 2017. Customers are now moving more than $2.5 billion each year through Monese accounts.
‘Underserved users’
Norris Koppel, founder and CEO of Monese says the investment would help the company ‘provide access to modern, convenient and affordable financial services to people who have been underserved by traditional financial institutions.’
He adds, ‘To have investors who are leaders in their fields allows us to bring tremendous operational experience and growth potential for the services we offer today and have planned for the future.
‘With a further series of product innovations to be announced in the very near future, this is an exciting time for Monese.’
Further reading on fintech
- Richard Reed backs fintech firm Countingup in multimillion pound fundraising
-
Why this fintech VC firm is seizing growth potential in Europe and South East Asia
Monese is planning new features and it plans to hire 100 more employees across its UK and Estonian offices as well as a third new office in Portugal by the end of the year.
