Monzo, a UK-based mobile financial services provider backed by telecommunications firm Orange, closed an £85m ($108m) funding round today led by venture capital firm General Catalyst.
VC firm Accel also participated in the round, as did unnamed existing investors. It valued the company at approximately $1.28bn pre-money, according to TechCrunch.
Monzo has allocated additional shares to a crowdfunding campaign later this year and while a figure has not yet been announced, the company stated it would be larger than $3m.
Founded in 2015, Monzo operates a digital bank that enables consumers to open and manage current accounts through a mobile app. It initially entered the market with a prepaid debit card but secured a full banking licence in April 2017.
The funding will go to the further development of its platform and continued expansion efforts across the UK, where Monzo has signed up more than 1.1 million customers to date.
Monzo last raised funding in a $93m round in November 2017 led by VC firm Goodwater Capital that included online payment processor Stripe, Orange subsidiary Orange Digital Ventures, charitable foundation Crankstart Foundation and VC firms Passion Capital and Thrive Capital.
The November transaction reportedly included a secondary share purchase from early employees worth $14m. It was followed by an equity crowdfunding campaign for existing private investors that closed at approximately $1.2m.
Orange Digital Ventures had already taken part in a $24.5m round for Monzo in February 2017 that also featured Thrive Capital and Passion Capital. Monzo then added $3m through an equity crowdfunding campaign the following month.
Passion Capital had led a $5.9m bridge round for the company in October 2016, after supplying approximately $3.1m in seed financing in 2015 and $7.2m in February 2016.
Monzo also secured approximately $1.4m in a crowdfunding campaign in March 2016 that closed within 96 seconds.
