Monese

Monese provides instant on-demand UK banking accounts regardless of the customer’s citizenship. This revolutionises banking for expats, digital nomads and new residents as ‘residency restrictions’ imposed by traditional high street banks are one of the biggest barriers to accessing the banking system when they arrive in a new country. No proof of UK address is required and the app and service is available in 11 languages. The app is available across 31 countries across Europe and accounts can be made under GBP or EUR.

Monese’s breakthrough technology can validate the identity of customers in real time, enabling customers to open an account in a matter of minutes, using a mobile app. Monese’s fully-featured UK banking account comes with cheap global payments and a contactless debit card. It also features additional services for financial wellness, including real-time account activity tracking, monthly outgoing overviews, budgeting tools and savings opportunities.

The company recorded 2m sign-ups in January 2020. It had previously taken the company 42 months to reach the first million, and only 8 to reach the second million,  peaking at 200,00 sign-ups a month. The growth-rate would mean the company would be on track for over 5m sign-ups by the end of 2020. At the same time, the company revealed it was in talks to raise £100m from investors in H1 2020, in a move that would give it Unicorn status.