British digital bank Monzo closes in on new fundraising round

LONDON (Reuters) – British digital bank Monzo is close to raising between 50 to 100 million pounds ($65.58-$131.16 million) within weeks to help fund its rapid growth, a source close to the company confirmed on Monday.

Talks have involved existing and new investors, the person said, and could be followed by a potentially larger ‘Series G’ fundraising next year.

The funds would be an extension to a 113 million pound capital raise in June this year, which valued the company at just over 2 billion pounds and was backed by investors including Silicon Valley venture fund Y Combinator.

The imminent fundraising was first reported by the Mail on Sunday.

Monzo, founded in 2015 by entrepreneur Tom Blomfield, has amassed more than 3.5 million customers by offering user-friendly online current accounts and mobile money management tools.

The lender – which made a loss of 33.1 million pounds last year – launched in the United States in June.

Reporting by Iain Withers, editing by Louise Heavens

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source: reuters.com