Monese

Monese LtdType| Private

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Industry| Financial technology, financial services
Founded| 2015; 11 years ago (2015)
Headquarters| London, United Kingdom

Area served

| European Economic Area

Key people

| Norris Koppel, founder & CEO
Products| Current accounts, remittance, debit cards
Revenue| £27.7 million (2022)[1]

Number of employees

| 370 (2019)
Website| www.monese.com

Monese is a British company that offers current accounts and money transfer services as an alternative to traditional banks. The mobile-only service provides accounts in Pounds sterling, Euros and Romanian leu, and is available in 31 countries across the European Economic Area. As of January 2020, it has over 2 million customers.[2]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Mobile apps
* 3 See also
* 4 References

## History

Monese was founded by Norris Koppel, an entrepreneur from Estonia. Koppel moved to the United Kingdom and had his application for a current account at a major high-street bank declined because he could not provide local proof of address and did not yet have credit history in the UK.[3] This experience led Koppel to vow that one day he would launch a banking service that did not exclude customers based on their residency or lack of credit history.[4]

The company completed its seed round in May 2015, raising $1.8 million from Seedcamp, early Spotify investor Shakil Khan and several other angel investors.[5]

Monese launched its first product, an instant-to-open mobile current account in the UK, on 21 September 2015.[6]

Prior to the launch of its current account, it was reported that over 56,000 customers pre-registered for service and joined a waiting list to be granted access.[7] Monese is able to provide banking services to resident and non-resident customers, and has an account opening process that can be completed on a customer's smartphone in under three minutes.[8]

Monese closed its Series A round in January 2017, announcing a $10 million raise from Outward VC, Anthemis Exponential Ventures, STE capital, and Korea Investment Partners, Smartcap and Seedcamp.[9] Later that year it launched European accounts.[10]

Its next funding round, $60 million as part of Series B, was announced on 6 September 2018, and was led by Swedish investment company Kinnevik AB, with participation from PayPal, Augmentum Fintech, British Airways owner International Airlines Group and Investec backed Outward VC.[11]

Monese initially provided all of its services free of charge, except international money transfer – but in 2016 it began charging a fixed fee of £4.95 per month for its current account product.[12] It subsequently launched other plans and, as of November 2019, offers three different pricing plans: "Simple" with limited benefits but no fixed monthly fee, "Classic" for £4.95 per month, and "Premium" with no transaction charges for £14.95 per month.[13]

Towards the end of 2023 Monese began to charge UK customers £0.30 for virtual debit cards and £1 for domestic outgoing bank transfers. Transfers between Monese bank accounts remained unaffected.[14]

They aims to secure additional funding in 2024[15]

## Mobile apps

To open and manage a Monese current account, customers must install the company's mobile app on their Android or iOS smartphone. The Android app has been available since Monese's public launch on 21 September 2015,[16] and the iOS app launched on 28 July 2016.[17]

## See also

* Neobanks in Europe

## References

1. ↑ Monese aims to secure fresh funding after recording £30.5m annual loss for 2022, 3 January 2024, https://www.fintechfutures.com/2024/01/monese-aims-to-secure-fresh-funding-after-recording-annual-loss-for-2022/
2. ↑ "Monese lands 2m customers since 2016 launch". AltFi News. 22 January 2020. https://www.altfi.com/article/6106_monese-lands-2m-customers-since-2016-launch.
3. ↑ "For Banking App Monese, Founded To Serve Migrants, Brexit Has Been Good For Business". Fast Company. 13 January 2017. https://www.fastcompany.com/3066947/new-money/for-banking-app-monese-founded-to-serve-migrants-brexit-has-been-good-for-business.
4. ↑ "Monese raises $1.8m for mobile banking service for immigrants". Finextra. 28 May 2015. https://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=27404.
5. ↑ "Monese Joins Seedcamp, Raising $1.8m to Provide Banking Services for Immigrants and Expats Across Europe". Seedcamp. 27 May 2015. http://seedcamp.com/monese-joins-seedcamp-raising-1-8m-to-provide-banking-services-for-immigrants-and-expats-across-europe/.
6. ↑ "Monese Launches In U.K. To Let Immigrants And Expats Get A Mobile Banking Account". Techcrunch. 21 September 2015. https://techcrunch.com/2015/09/21/moneseasy-peasy/.
7. ↑ "A banking app for migrants has 56,000 people on its waiting list". Business Insider. 16 October 2015. https://www.businessinsider.com/monese-has-56000-waiting-list-for-migrant-bank-accounts-2015-10.
8. ↑ "Check out the smart tech that lets you open a bank account with just a selfie and a passport pic". Business Insider. 16 November 2015. https://www.businessinsider.com/how-migrant-banking-app-monese-does-its-kyc-and-aml-checks-2015-11.
9. ↑ "Monese raises $10M Series A for its banking app targeting immigrants and expats". TechCrunch. 3 January 2017. https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/03/monese-series-a/.
10. ↑ "The infamous Brexit Bus is now being used to promote a fintech startup". The Next Web. 25 September 2017. https://thenextweb.com/money/2017/09/25/the-infamous-brexit-bus-is-now-being-used-to-promote-a-fintech-startup/.
11. ↑ "Digital bank Monese scoops $60m Series B". AltFi. 6 September 2018. https://www.altfi.com/article/4703_digital-bank-monese-scoops-60m-series-b.
12. ↑ "Here's the huge question facing fintech startups — can they make any money?". Business Insider. 6 June 2016. https://www.businessinsider.com/how-can-fintech-make-a-profit-number26-monese-2016-6.
13. ↑ "Monese pricing". Monese website. https://monese.com/pricing.
14. ↑ "UK Personal Fees and Limits". Monese website. https://monese.com/gb/en/fees-and-limits/fee-and-limits-information?version=2023-12-19&type=personal&jurisdiction=UK.
15. ↑ Pathe, Tyler (3 January 2024). "Monese aims to secure fresh funding after recording £30.5m annual loss for 2022". https://www.fintechfutures.com/2024/01/monese-aims-to-secure-fresh-funding-after-recording-annual-loss-for-2022/.
16. ↑ "The mobile banking revolution is here as Monese arrives". The Memo. 21 September 2015. http://www.thememo.com/2015/09/21/monese-mobile-bank-banking-smartphone-launch/.
17. ↑ "Monese, the UK banking app for immigrants and expats, finally lands on iOS". Techcrunch. 28 July 2016. https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/28/monese-ios/.

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