Monese took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to announce that the company raised $10 million in Series A funding. The company’s app aims to offer easy banking for expats and immigrants across Europe.
Expats and immigrants have difficulty opening bank accounts outside of their home countries.
The company’s tweet states: “We’ve done it y’all. We’re coming to Europe this year!! And we’ve raised $10 million from some very smart investors to pull it off.” A company blog elaborates on the funding round.
STE Capital, Korean Investment Partners, and Anthemis Exponential Ventures led the funding round. The company plans to use the cash injection to expand into mainland Europe. The company’s CEO, Norris Koppel, states, “We are incredibly excited to close a heavily oversubscribed funding round with a suite of top investors at our side. The money raised will be key in helping us launch Euro current accounts.”
The company boasts over 1.8 million transactions in 179 countries, and has 40,000 customers that use the service.
Monese accounts allow customers to conduct everyday banking tasks. Customers can receive direct deposits, shop online or in a ground store, or they can pay bills. Money transfers are also available.
Users can open a Monese account for free for the first month, with monthly costs of just £4.95 after the first month. The company abandoned their per transaction revenue model late last year.
Account holders can receive payments in the euro or British pound. All accounts are based in the UK, and account holders will receive a debit card. Users can use ATMs globally to gain access to their cash.
Currency exchange is offered at a 0.5% rate.
Monese is available on iOS and Android. Accounts are created in under 3 minutes. Money can be stored in multiple currencies.
The company promises low fees that are cheaper than traditional banks. Most the fintech company’s deposits come from people’s salaries.
