Starling Bank raises £30m amid European expansion plans
Starling Bank has raised £30m as part of an effort to ramp up its expansion into Europe.
The British fintech giant, which claims to be on track to reach 1m accounts by the end of this year, has been tapping up fresh funds for its bullish expansion and investment in B2B banking services as well as financial retail and SME bank accounts.
Read more: Starling to break even as bank customers double
Merian Chrysalis Investment Company and JTC have pledged a further £20m and £10m respectively.
Founder and chief executive Anne Boden said: “We’ve come a long way since Merian Global Investors’ first investment of £50 million earlier this year, adding new products and features and accelerating our rate of customer acquisition.”
She added: “This latest investment of £20m from Merian Chrysalis will support Starling’s rapid growth and help us reach one million customers and £1bn on deposit within weeks. It will also help us accelerate our global expansion, starting in Europe, so that even more people can benefit from the Starling app.”
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Starling has been competing with rivals such as Monzo and Revolut to assert itself as the leader in a pack of startups offering app-based current accounts.
Despite their fast growth, online-only banks have on the whole struggled to turn a profit since being founded.
Starling’s boss has pledged to break even in the UK by the end of next year.