Monese is a fintech startup based out of London, offering a mobile banking app for immigrants and expats who might otherwise find it difficult to open a bank account outside of their originating country. This startup has now raised $10 million in a Series A funding round.
The plans for the new inflow of funds are to use them towards launching a Euro account, thus bringing its service to customers in European markets other than just the U.K. They are also looking to roll out new functionality such as direct debit and credit services. This will bring the Monese app even closer to a fully fledged current account offered by a traditional bank.
Participating in the startup’s A round are fintech investor Anthemis Exponential Ventures (which also backed challenger bank Simple), STE capital, and Korea Investment Partners. The latter recently invested in Korea’s first Internet-only bank Kakao Bank and is described as a “strategic investor” with relation to Monese. It also marks the first time Korea Investment Partners has backed a European startup. Previous investors Smartcap and Seecamp also participated in this round, making total funding raised by the company to $15.8 million.
Available via an app for Android and iOS, a Monese account, which claims to be able to be opened in “under 3 minutes”, provides a ‘current account’ interface (including a bank account number), low-cost international money transfers, and a Visa debit card. Users can also make cash deposits and withdrawals, and store money in multiple currencies.
The shift also means that Monese can position itself against the banks as a more transparent and better value banking service for expats and immigrants or anybody else who may find it difficult to access so-called ‘free’ banking.
This is the world where fintech startups are exposing that financial services are never free, busubsidizeded by things like hidden fees, zero interest paid when you are in credit or via up sold and uncompetitive products. For many immigrants, however, banking is literally not free, with banks charging a “control function” of about £7 for customers who need or only qualify for a basic account that won’t let them go overdrawn.
How it works for Monese is that it claims that over 40,000 customers from over 179 different countries have signed up to date. Collectively they’ve made over 1.8 million transactions, moving £150 million since September 2015.
Last July, the startup claimed that 74 per cent of all incoming deposits are people’s salaries, suggesting that Monese is meeting the remit it set out to fulfil. Judging from the participation in their latest funding round, investors are also placing a considerable amount of faith in them.
