In a recent funding round, the UK startup Monzo has raised more than $2.5 billion valuations from investor Y Combinator, landing as one of UK’s most valuable fintech companies.
Last year, the company has raised over $1.25 billion of funding, bringing in fresh capital for expansion plans and development.
Bloomberg reports that Monzo is just a few billions away from SoftBank Group Corp, Greensill and OakNorth. The latter is only ahead with only $3 billion in funding.
Earlier this month, the company announced that they will be servicing clients outside of the UK and will enter the United States market. Monzo will be opening an office in Los Angeles and other major cities in the United States. With over 2 million customers in the UK alone, the future is bright for Monzo.
Monzo as a ‘Challenger Bank’
Experts are claiming that Monzo is among the so-called ‘Challenger Bank’ which takes advantage of technology to cater to customers’ needs. Traditional banking is still doing great but with a lot of changes in technology and customer’s behaviour, modernizing banking is a must.
With digital banking, customers can easily track their money and use this platform to send funds and transfer money to another bank account.
According to YC’s partner for continuity fund Anu Hariharan, “We think that banking systems are really archaic. It’s really hard for them to just adapt to what the modern world requires.”
Right now, fintech companies are trying to address the issue of convenience to customers who don’t have time to go to the bank for every transaction. By developing mobile applications and technology, managing money will be accessible and hassle-free.
More than developing new banking services, Monzo is also known to hold community events to help customers understand their services. They even allow an online forum for users to ask important questions and provide feedback to the company service.
