Monzo is now valued at $5.9 billion after the U.K.-based challenger bank confirmed a secondary market share sale to provide liquidity for its employees.
The transaction, first rumored yesterday, saw existing investors such as Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund (GIC) and StepStone Group procuring additional shares in the London-based fintech.
A secondary market sale essentially rewards employees for getting a company to where it is, without having to go public — or, at least, buying it more time.
It has been an action-packed year for Monzo. The company raised $190 millio in May, just two months after kicking off a $425 millio Series I round that saw Alphabet’s CapitalG and sister VC firm GV making a rare co-investment. The startup has now raised around $1.5 billion since its foundation nine years ago.
At the time of its March fundraise, Monzo said its pre-money valuation was £3.6 billion ($4.6 billion), implying a post-money valuation of £4 billion ($5 billion) — this valuation rose slightly with the second tranche that followed in May. The following month, Monzo reported its first full-year (pre-tax) profit, with its revenues more than doubling from the previous year. The company claims 20% of U.K. adults as customers as well as 6% of businesses in the country.
This growth, coupled with a roadmap that includes a wider European expansion and plans to accelerate its rollout in the U.S market where it appointed a new CEO last October, has clearly been deemed sufficient for a valuation bump in the past five months.
Rival U.K. neobank Revolut recently confirmed a new valuation of $45 billio via a similar secondary market sale, shortly after securing its own banking license in the U.K. and Mexico.
“It’s great to be able to provide employees with some liquidity, while meeting further investor demand for Monzo equity,” Monzo CEO TS Anil said in a statement.