Fintech funding round-up: 31 March 2017
Lighter and brighter – catch up with fintech funding news in our brief round-up. Features Monzo, Quint and Lidya.
Mobile-only challenger bank Monzo has raised another £2.5 million from more than 6,000 investors – the highest-ever number of any Crowdcube campaign. This follows its crowdfunding record of £1 million round last year, which closed in 96 seconds.
The bank is now valued at £65 million, up from £50 million in October 2016. It is presently operating a pre-paid card service with plans to launch a full current account later.
Staying in the UK, consumer finance firm Quint has secured a £10 million financing deal with Manchester’s Tosca Debt Capital. Quint CEO and founder Greg Cox has also increased his stake in the company to 90%.
Quint was founded in 2009, and owns a number of businesses. These include lending platform Monevo, Monevo Data Services, price comparison site MoneyGuru, and financial management service Credit Angel. Quint also has operations in the US, China, Australia, South Africa and Poland.
Over in Nigeria, SME finance provider Lidya has closed a $1.25 million seed funding round led by Accion Venture Lab. The fintech start-up was launched in September last year by Ercin Eksin and Tunde Kehinde.
Lidya provides credit and finance to Africans, such as opening accounts and building profiles. The investment injection will be used for product development. According to the firm, 20,000 Nigerian businesses are registered with its service.
