Kinnevik Withdraws All Investment In Monese
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Kinnevik, a Swedish Venture Capitalist has written off all its Monese investment. This was because of uncertainty about its future involvement in the sector.
The Stockholm-based VC led a funding round of $60m in Monese in 2018. It has a 20% share of the firm. However, it has decided to withdraw from the banking service provider. This reflects a much more cautious investor approach.
Monese collaborated with Paysafe in 2020 for an investment opportunity. The firm offers banking services to immigrants and expats who find it difficult to own a traditional bank account.
The partnership allows customers to use Paysafe’s ecash solution to add funds to their Monese wallets. It has also aided significant development with an increase in cash top-up locations from 40,000 in the UK to about 110,000 across Europe.
Monese’s Woes Deepen
Kinnevik reported on this decision, stating that it has written off its investment value placed in Monese. It revealed that the company is still very much beneficial, but its future participation remains uncertain. This has led to the decision to write off every invested asset, Kinnevick concluded.
The banking service provider saw significant success in 2019, as it partnered with PayPal. The online payments giant gave Monese’s customers access to more advanced financial tools and the ability to manage accounts seamlessly on both platforms.
However, the firm is currently in a very difficult period. It recorded a £30.5 million fund in January in its accounts.
Monese Plans To Close Its Business If It’s Unable To Raise Funds
Monese is known as a British-Estonian company that provides money transfer services and current accounts as an option to traditional banks.
The firm offers Euros, Romanian leu, and Pounds sterling accounts which can be obtainable by those in the 31 selected countries across Europe. It has reportedly gained a large population of 2 million customers as of January 2020.
The company was established by an Estonian entrepreneur known as Norris Koppel. In September 2015, the firm revealed its first product in the USA which was an instant mobile current account.
After the launch of its first account, Monese revealed that more than 56,000 clients quickly registered for service and anticipated being granted access. The firm aims to offer banking services to both resident and non-resident clients. It also provides customers with seamless account opening using their smartphone. But the recent withdrawal of investments from Kinnevik will be a stumbling block to the company’s progress, following its January loss. It has informed of the inability to continue operations unless an additional fund will be raised.
