Monese has lost the trust of its Swedish investor Kinnevik

Estonian fintech Monese, which offers accounts and money transfer services, has lost the trust of one of its main investors, Swedish VC Kinnevik, which has decided to write off its previous investment. 

In 2018, Kinnevik led a $60M series B in Monese, after which it held a 21% stake in the fintech. To date, Kinnevik has valued its investment in Monese at zero, saying that its involvement in the company's future is unclear. 

According to the startup, it is still highly valued by other major investors, including HSBC. Monese’s major shareholders also include US payment platform PayPal, British Airways owner International Airlines Group, and London-based VC Augmentum Fintech. Monese believes it will be able to raise new investment in the short term, although its current funding requirements are low at the moment.

Founded in 2015 by Norris Koppel, Monese's solution is a mobile-based multi-currency account and accompanying debit card that supports cash deposits and withdrawals. There are no credit checks, and customers don’t need local proof of address, but they do need to provide a photo ID and a selfie and live in the EU or the UK. It is possible to convert the British pound, euro, and Romanian lei into 16 European currencies on the platform.

Monese has over 2M customers in 31 countries. To date, the company has raised approximately $208M in funding. The latest investment of $35M was made by European HSBC Ventures, the investment arm of HSBC, in September 2022.

In the 2022 financial year, Monese made a loss of £30,5M losses. In February 2023, Monese announced 22 redundancies.