HSBC Ventures invests $35 million in the mobile money app Monese

Mobile money app Monese has raised USD 35 million from HSBC Ventures to continue the expansion of its digital platform.

The investment comes almost a year since Monese’s oversubscribed $90 million Series C funding round, led by Investec. As part of this investment, Monese announced the launch of its platform-as-a-service (PaaS) business in a strategic partnership with Investec. The latest capital injection, announced this week, brings the company’s total funding to date to more than USD 200 million.

Founded in 2015, Monese offers a range of financial products for both customers and businesses – including a prepaid debit card, cross-border money transfers, mobile payments, a credit building tool and insurance. Founded by an Estonian but based in London, the fintech has gained a reputation as the financial platform for refugees and freelancers due to the ease of setting up and verifying an account and tools that help traditionally underbanked consumers build a positive relation to their money and credit.

Monese says it is “closely aligned” with HSBC in opening up the full range of digital banking opportunities and claims the investment will form part of a “broader strategic partnership that will focus on Monese’s industry-leading cloud-based PaaS business”.

Monese offers wealth and banking tools to HSBC customers

Norris Koppel, founder and CEO of Monese, said: “Securing the backing of a Tier 1 global bank demonstrates the strength of our platform and the continued appetite from investors in the platform. I am delighted to have such a prominent partner and investor in HSBC, which has a wealth of experience in delivering exceptional banking services. We look forward to taking this collaboration further.”

Taylan Turan, Group Head of Retail Banking and Strategy, Wealth and Personal Banking at HSBC, says: “HSBC is continually pioneering new wealth and banking innovations for our digitally savvy customers. We want to help customers make smarter decisions so they can reach their financial goals with innovative digital tools. This new partnership is an important step towards helping us deliver digital wealth and banking tools at pace and scale, combining Monese’s fintech credentials with our own global wealth and banking capabilities.”

And Catherine Zhou, Global Head of Ventures, Digital Partnerships and Innovation at HSBC Ventures, continues: “HSBC is delighted to invest in Monese as one of the leading fintech players in the market. Our investment will provide stronger strategic alignment and enable us to build on our strengths as partners.”