Monzo is now valued at $5.9 billion after the UK-based challenger bank confirmed secondary market stake sales to provide liquidity for employees.
The deal, which was first rumored yesterday, sees existing investors such as Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund (GIC) and StepStone Group raising additional stakes in the London-based fintech.
A secondary market sale essentially rewards the employees who get the company to where it is without having to take it public. Or at least it buys the company more time.
It’s been an action-packed year for Monzo. The company raised $190 million in May, just two months after raising a $425 million Series I round that included a rare joint investment from Alphabet’s CapitalG and sister VC firm GV. The startup has now raised about $1.5 billion since its founding nine years ago.
At the time of the March fundraising, Monzo said it was valued at £3.6 billion ($4.6 billion) before fundraising, implying it would be worth £4 billion ($5 billion) after. May. The following month, Monzo reported its first full-year (pre-tax) profit, with sales more than doubling from the previous year. The company counts 20% of UK adults and 6% of domestic businesses as customers.
That growth, combined with a roadmap that includes wider European expansion and plans to accelerate launch in the U.S. market where a new CEO was appointed last October, was deemed sufficient to boost valuation over the past five months.
Rival British neobank Revolut recently saw a new valuation of $45 billion through a similar secondary market sale shortly after securing its own banking licenses in the UK and Mexico.
“It’s great to be able to meet additional investor demand for Monzo shares while providing some liquidity to our employees,” Monzo CEO TS Anil said in a statement.
