Monzo closes in on £100m funding round
Digital bank Monzo is close to securing up to £100m of funding to drive forward its growth plans.
New and existing investors are involved in the ongoing fundraising talks, and the move could be followed by a larger funding round next year.
Read more: Challenger bank Monzo launches loans
The new investment, which was first reported by the Mail on Sunday, would be an extension to a £113m capital raise in June, which valued the company at just over £2bn.
The challenger bank launched in the US in June this year, making it the first among its UK competitors to make a move into the country. There are several other native competitors already doing well in the US, including fellow unicorn Chime which has around 3m users.
The startup is currently loss-making, having reported widening losses of £47.2m last year, up 54 per cent from £30.5m year.
Personnel expenses for the year ended 28 February jumped to £25.6m from £9.2m in 2018.
This reflects the company’s expansion, with more than 400 staff spread across its offices in London, Cardiff and Las Vegas.
The bank recently took in £85m from the likes of General Catalyst and Accel in October last year and a further £20m in crowdfunding in December 2018.