UK digital bank Monzo is reportedly putting the finishing touches to a new £500 million fund raise with support from Hedosophia, an early backer of Airbnb and Uber.
City sources told Sky News that Monzo could announce as soon as this week that Hedosophia and Singapore's Government Investment Corporation (GIC) were participating in an overall fundraising. GIC is said to be investing over £50m, with Hedosophia also committing tens of millions of pounds.
News of the new funding round comes just weeks after the app-only bank secured $400 million in financing, boosting it valuation to $5 billion.
Monzo currently claims more than nine million personal account customers, making it the 7th biggest retail bank in the UK by customer numbers.
After a rocky post-pandemic, the lender has bounced back strongly, rolling out a series of new services for pension and investment and preparing for a move into the insurance segment. After years of losses, the bank is expecting to finally hit profitability this year.
With the new backing coming into view, the challenger bank will no longer need to return to the well ahead of a possible IPO in the next year or so.