HSBC has invested $35 million in Monese, the London-based fintech that provides digital banking and remittance services to consumers and businesses across Europe.
Monese is a bank that emerged from the U.K. capital and serves customers with a range of online-only services. Other notable players in the space include Revolut, which hit a hefty $33 billion valuation last year, Monzo, which is now valued at $4.5 billion, and Starling Bank, which recently increased its valuation to $2.9 billion.
Monese followed its $90 million series C round last September with a new financing of $208 million. The company hasn't disclosed any valuations for its latest round of funding, but it has increased its valuation multiple times. Monese's series D round will close at some point in the future and this is the first wave of funding.
Securing one of the world's top ten biggest banks as an investor is a major coup for Monese, and represents something of a trend in recent years whereby dusty old "traditional" banks have sought to inroads the burgeoning neobank sphere through buying stakes. Spain'sBBVA invested $300 million in Brazilian neobank Neon, while JP Morgan bought a piece of Greece's Viva Wallet. JP Morgan acquired a 40% stake in Brazil's C6 Bank in the past couple of years, as well as investing in Starling Bank and San Fransisco-based Upgrade.
HSBC is looking to leverage Monese's banking-as-a-service platform, which it unveiled last year to help other financial entities. Bringing the innovation of a fintech startup into a major global bank helps it better compete in an increasingly digital-first world.
The group head of retail banking and strategy at HSBC said they want to help clients make smarter decisions so they can meet their financial goals with innovative digital tools Combining Monese's credentials with our own global wealth and banking capabilities is a key step towards delivering digital wealth and banking tools at pace and scale.
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