30 Facts About Monzo

Monzo Bank Ltd, is an online bank based in the United Kingdom.

Monzo was one of the earliest of a number of new app-based challenger banks in the UK.

Monzo Bank was founded as Mondo in 2015 by Tom Blomfield, Jonas Huckestein, Jason Bates, Paul Rippon and Gary Dolman.

In February 2016, Monzo set the record for "quickest crowd-funding campaign in history" when it raised £1m in 96 seconds via the Crowdcube investment platform.

Two weeks prior to the name change, Monzo was granted a restricted banking licence, by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority and in April 2017 these restrictions were lifted.

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Monzo had a number of prepaid debit cards in operation which it issued to users for testing purposes.

On 17 July 2017, Monzo announced the current account preview and began inviting eligible customers to sign-up for a preview of the full current account.

In line with the company's general stance on transparency, the Monzo website includes a live counter showing progress on the rollout.

On 25 June 2018, Monzo announced their team up with TransferWise to provide international money transfers from within their Monzo app.

In October 2018, Monzo reached one million customers, and was named the best tech startup to work for by LinkedIn UK.

On 21 November 2018, Monzo added the functionality for users to pay cash into their Monzo accounts using PayPoint, charging users £1 for each deposit.

On 28 January 2019, Monzo announced a partnership with Flux to add itemised receipts and loyalty points.

In March 2020, Monzo announced the creation of two business bank accounts for sole traders and small to medium sized businesses.

In July 2020, Monzo launched its new premium subscription service, Monzo Plus.

In October 2020, Monzo launched its new top tier subscription service, Monzo Premium.

In February 2021, Monzo announced Carol Nelson as the new US CEO, taking over from TS Anil who is Monzo's UK CEO after temporarily holding both CEO titles.

In October 2016, Monzo announced an 'interim' funding round valuing the company at £50M and raised £4.

On 6 November 2017, Monzo raised £71 million from several investors in a round led by Goodwater Capital.

On 30 October 2018, Monzo became a pound “unicorn, ” with an £85 million fundraising round valuing the company at £1 billion.

On 5 December 2018, Monzo held another £20 million Crowdcube crowdfunding campaign, reaching nearly £18 million in funding in less than three hours, and reaching the £20 million goal in just over two days.

On 24 June 2019, Monzo raised £113 million in a Series F funding round led by Y Combinator's Continuity fund.

Monzo announced on 13 June 2019 that it would begin offering services in the United States, though it provided no timetable for an actual launch.

Monzo will enter the US market through a partnership with Ohio-based Sutton Bank, and will retain many of its features, like instant spending notifications and contactless pay.

Monzo initially issued a variety of alpha, beta and investor cards to its customers who wanted to be early adopters.

From early on, Monzo has issued cards in a neon "hot coral" colour - initially intended as a temporary measure during prototyping - but later, a deliberate decision arising from the success of the "eye-catching" design.

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In December 2017, Monzo issued new Debit Mastercard cards to all its existing and new customers as the bank began rolling out current accounts.

Monzo has released mobile apps for both iOS and Android phones.

On 29 September 2016, Monzo made the Android app publicly available for anyone in the UK to use.

Whilst the UK Government is looking into legislation to require existing banks to comply with and adopt standards for secure and open APIs, Monzo has already released a prototype API based on the OAuth standard within a year of the company's founding.

In 2019 the BBC's Watchdog programme investigated Monzo after receiving complaints from Monzo customers who had their accounts frozen or closed.