HSBC backs Monese with $35m investment

European challenger bank Monese has secured a $35 million investment from HSBC as part of a broader strategic partnership focusing on its Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform.

Monese will use the new funding from HSBC Ventures – which provides venture growth financing to early-stage and high-growth startups – to support the growth of its cloud-based platform-as-a-service business.

Norris Koppel, founder and CEO of Monese, said: “Securing the support of a tier one global bank demonstrates the strength of our platform and the continued appetite from investors in the platform.

“I am delighted to have such a distinguished partner and investor in HSBC, who brings a great deal of experience in delivering exceptional banking services. We look forward to taking this partnership forward.”

Monese launched its BaaS platform in September 2021, alongside a strategic partnership with Investec, which led the first close of the company’s ongoing Series C fundraising.

The latest investment from HSBC brings the total raised by Monese to $208 million to date.

Taylan Turan, group head of retail banking and strategy, wealth and personal banking at HSBC, said: “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.”

“Our investment will provide stronger strategic alignment and enable us to build on our strengths as partners,” added Catherine Zhou, global head of ventures, digital partnerships and innovation at HSBC Ventures.

Koppel founded Monese in the UK in 2015, as a mobile app alternative to the banks.