Monese is striving to become the next unicorn
The negotiations with current and new investors are expected to be completed in the first half of the year, three sources told the Financial Times. Norris Koppel, CEO of Monese, withdrew from commenting to the British business newspaper, but said: "It is clear that the next funding round is on the way and with this round we will raise enough funds to become profitable."
Monese has never concealed great ambitions. Two years ago when Monese raised $ 60 million then Koppel called it "a warm-up." Monese has a unit with 175 employees in Estonia.
Monese is not short of competitors in the UK, notes the Financial Times, for example Monzo, N26, Starling Bank. So far, Monese has tried to differentiate from its competitors with targeting groups with difficulties to obtain service from conventional banks, such as immigrants. Koppel noted that the number of customers doubled to 2 million in 7 months.
The entire group suffered a loss of £ 12.7 million in 2018, with a turnover of £ 5.5 million. Strong growth in customer numbers has been the main motivation for investing in fintech companies like Mones and Revolut. Koppel assured the British business newspaper that attracting new clients from banks is usually costly, but focusing on immigrants makes us more likely to succeeed.
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