British digital bank Monzo has completed a fresh funding round valuing the company at $4.5 billion. This is in a vote of confidence from investors in the loss-making lender. The high-profile neobank was founded in 2015. It has received the funding from investors in a round led by Abu Dhabi Growth Fund. The bank has closed the first $475 million injection. Then within a couple of weeks the total raised above $500 million.
Monzo has more than 5 million customers. Last year its annual losses widened after it disclosed it faced a regulatory investigation over a potential breach of anti-money laundering rules. Then they struggled a lot to turn the profit. The bank said that it was making progress improving its finances and had doubled revenues this year. Now there are almost 300,000 using paid accounts. Staff numbers have also grown 60% i.e, 2,100.
Monzo CEO TS Anil said in a statement that this investment means that they will grow further and faster. As they continue on their journey to reinvent banking, and then they become the one app that sits at the centre of their customers’ financial lives. The news was first reported by the Financial Times.