Challenger bank Starling has announced a 拢60m raise from existing investors Merian Global Investors and JTC.
The investment will bring the total raised by Starling to 拢323m, and follows two funding rounds of 拢105 million in aggregate led by Merian in 2019.
Starling reports that it has opened 1.25m accounts for consumers and small businesses, since launching its banking app in May 2017. It now holds more than 拢1.25bn on deposit.
The firm said that it will also award shares of the firm to all 800 employees, a move 鈥渁llowing everyone in the company to share directly in its success鈥�, it said.
Anne Boden, founder and chief executive of Starling Bank, added: 鈥淭he support of our existing investors represents a huge endorsement of our business strategy, as we continue to ramp up our growth.
鈥淲e鈥檙e constantly innovating and have big ambitions to turn Starling into a world-leading digital bank.
鈥淲e could not do this without the support of our 800 employees, who work so hard to provide a better banking experience for our customers, giving them more control over their finances. So I鈥檓 thrilled to be giving shares to them.鈥�
Nick Williamson, co-manager of Merian Chrysalis Investment Company Limited, said: 鈥淪tarling has continued to innovate and has already established itself as one of the most highly-regarded UK challenger banks. Its superior user experience is winning over retail and business customers and we believe 2020 is set to be a defining year for the business.鈥�
Yesterday Starling Bank was connected with the editing of Wikipedia entries for both the firm and Boden.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that one Wikipedia user had published a screenshot of a document which they claimed showed Starling Bank employees planning to rewrite the bank鈥檚 entry to make it more positive.