London’s fintech companies are well and truly growing up. First, they hit unicorn status and now two of the major challenger banks on the scene, Monzo and Revolut, have both announced their global expansion plans during London Tech Week.
Monzo, of the trademark coral cards, is announcing today it is expanding to the US. The company, led by CEO Tom Blomfield, is going to be building a team in Los Angeles where it will carry out its first launch events before expanding to other major cities.
The first few thousand cards will on be available via in-person sign ups at these events. Any prospective customers can sign up to the wait list at Monzo.com/USA
Speaking about the launch, Blomfield said: “When it comes to consumer apps, banks are at least a decade behind the ease and feature-set of a Lyft or an Airbnb, not to mention sloth-like and unimaginative when compared to the innovation cycle in the apps we use every day. With Monzo, we aim to make money work for everyone by working with our community of users to build things that work for them.”
The Monzo US app is going to look rather different to the UK version, which now has over 2 million customers, as the start-up promises it will be adding new designs and features that will rely on US-specific feedback.
Customers will be able to do all the things that Monzo UK customers can do including set up regular payments, get their salary paid in, and set up saving pots. However, Monzo doesn’t currently have a US banking license so it is going down the Mastercard debit route.
Revolut also announced earlier today that it is opening its public beta in Australia.
The start-up says it is rolling out the beta version of its app to the country’s 20,000-person wait list who will be able to use features such as money management and foreign exchange.
With the Australia launch, Revolut hopes to provide an alternative to the expensive and costly money transfers that take place between the UK and Australia. With over 700,000 UK tourists visiting Australia every year, not to mention those who take advantage of the country’s popular work-travel visa, there are sure to be a lot of takers.
Nik Storonsky, Revolut’s founder and CEO said in a statement: “Our mission has always been to build a global financial platform, and launching our public beta in Australia marks the first step in our journey. Over the last four years, we’ve built a product that has helped to improve the financial well-being of more than five million people in the UK and Europe, and we’re incredibly excited to begin doing the same in Australia.”
Revolut recently added Apple Pay function for its UK customers.
