Founders: Tom Blomfield, Jonas Templestein, Jason Bates, Gary Dolman, Paul Rippon
CEO: TS Anil
Launched: 2015
Headquarters: London
Funding: $1.8 billion
Valuation: $5.2 billion
Key technologies: Cloud computing, machine learning
Industry: Fintech
Previous appearances on Disruptor 50 List: 0
The staid world of banking has been ripe for reinvention, and today there are plenty of neobanks and fintech firms expanding into payments, lending and other financial services.
UK-based Monzo is among these upstarts. Founded in 2015, it has more than nine million customers, making it the largest digital bank in the U.K. and the seventh largest U.K. bank by customers. Monzo added two million new customers in 2023.
As a digital-only bank, Monzo operates entirely within a mobile app. It also has budgeting and money management tools that make it easy for users to create budgets, track spending trends and create savings that can be put into investments. In September, the company partnered with BlackRock, the asset management giant, to offer three funds to Monzo customers. The minimum investment starts at £1. Tens of thousands of customers signed up within hours of the announcement and more than 280,000 customers were added to the waitlist.
That made Monzo a first mover among U.K. neobanks to offer investment services. Its competitors, Starling Bank and Zopa, don't yet have investing features, though fintech platforms such as Revolut and Freetrade let users trade stocks. The company also introduced Call Status — a tool within the app that tackles impersonation scams — and a home ownership tool that gives people visibility into their mortgage on the app.
In March, Monzo raised $430 million in a new round of funding led by CapitalG, the venture arm of Alphabet. Monzo said it would put the money towards accelerating its U.S. expansion plans. This month, it raised another $190 million.
The company tried to launch in the U.S. in 2019 through a partnership with Sutton Bank and applied for a full U.S. banking license. That attempt came to a halt in 2021 when Monzo withdrew its application amid regulatory pressure. This time, the company is taking a different tack and plans to re-enter with a partnership that would allow it to bypass getting a full bank license. It appointed Conor Walsh, a former executive at Block's Cash App division, as the CEO at Monzo U.S. in October.
"We feel like we have earned the right to dream bigger and invest in the U.S. as well," Monzo CEO TS Anil told The Financial Times. "American banking is ripe for reinvention and the American customer needs a Monzo-like product, a financial control center that helps them manage their money."
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