Monzo confirms £60m funding round as valuation slides
Digital bank Monzo has today confirmed a fresh funding round of £60m from existing investors, which is understood to have been accompanied by significant cut to its valuation.
Backers included Y Combinator, General Catalyst, Accel, Stripe, Goodwater, Orange, Thrive, Passion Capital, as well as some new investors such as Reference Capital and Vanderbilt University.
Monzo’s capital position is now around $220m, though its valuation is said to have been slashed by 40 per cent.
Morning Wire understands the bank’s valuation remains above the critical £1bn mark — meaning it continues to be a so-called unicorn — and that Monzo is confident it will rise again once the pandemic passes.
Monzo has had a busy start to 2020, having launched its business banking effort which has received more than 25,000 sign-ups to date.
It now has more than 4.2m customers, and has filed for its own US banking licence to support its expansion across the Atlantic.
Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield recently made the switch from chief executive to president of the bank, making TS Anil Monzo’s chief executive for both the UK and US.
Former Deliveroo chief technology officer Mike Hudack was named Monzo’s chief product officer in March, while Sujata Bhatia, a former American Express executive, was named chief operating officer last month.
The bank was also forced to cut 120 jobs last month as the coronavirus crisis weighs heavily on businesses’ operating capacity. Monzo had previously planned to hire 500 new roles this year alone.
Confirmation of the round was first reported by Business Insider.