HSBC Ventures invests $35m in Monese

UK-based mobile banking app Monese has received $35 million in investment from banking giant HSBC as part of a strategic partnership.

The fresh funding brings the total capital raised by Monese to $208 million and will be used to grow its cloud-based Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) business.

Last year, Monese launched its PaaS business in a strategic partnership with Investec, which saw the bank lead the fintech’s Series C round. The platform is led by Monese CCO Atul Choudrie and is used to power the company’s own accounts.

Taylan Turan, group head of retail banking and strategy, wealth and personal banking at HSBC, says the firm wants “to help clients make smarter decisions so they can meet their financial goals”.

He adds: “This new partnership is a key 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.”

Monese was launched in 2015 by entrepreneur Norris Koppel after his first-hand experience of trying to open a bank account in another country.