Monzo crowdfunding round rockets through $2.5m target

Digital challenger bank Monzo has blasted through its £2.5m crowdfunding target in less than four hours of opening pre-registration for the campaign.

The London-based app-only bank now counts more than £7.5m pledged to invest with pre-registration for the round open until March 14.

The crowdfunding campaign follows the £19.5m Series B venture round the firm closed in February led by New York-based VC Thrive Capital.

Monzo announced in January that it has attracted more than 100,000 users who have spent £100m on its pre-paid debit cards.

The Passion Capital-backed company previously raised £1m on Crowdcube in a record-breaking 96 seconds.

Demand for the challenger bank (then named Mondo) was so great that it caused Crowdcube’s servers to crash.

In order to avoid this Monzo will hold a ballot to select which pre-register investors will be brought forward to complete the deal.

The startup received a limited banking license from the Bank of England in August and the new capital will go towards fulfilling the requirements needed to become a full bank.

This will allow it to offer current accounts to its 100,000-strong user base.

To date Monza has closed more £40m in funding and is valued at £65m as it looks to expand its team from 80 to 100 by the end of the year.

Its latest crowdfunding campaign comes at the same time as news that rival challenger bank Atom Bank has secured £113m from Spanish banking giant BBVA.

An existing backer in Atom Bank, the new capital comes as a part of a £250m round the Durham-based, app-only bank is in the process of raising.

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