LONDON, Sept 9 (Askume) – British payments technology company Pockit is in talks to acquire control of the consumer unit of British challenger bank Monese, two people familiar with the matter told Askume.
Under the proposed deal, Pockit would acquire Monese for a nominal sum and inject capital into its direct-to-consumer unit to help boost regulatory capital and fund the integration with Pockit, one of the people said. Talks have progressed but have not been finalized and could still fall through, the person said.
Monese declined to comment. Representatives for Pockit did not respond to requests for comment.
London-based Monese, which is backed by HSBC and was reportedly valued at more than £1 billion ($1.31 billion) in early 2020, split the business into two separate entities in May: its consumer banking unit Monese and its enterprise business (called XYB).
Founded in 2015, Monese has over 2 million customers worldwide and targets consumers who have difficulty accessing commercial banks due to a lack of credit history.
Estonian venture capital firm Terra Ventures backed Monese’s plan to spin off its consumer unit into an independent entity, but the deal fell apart in August, people familiar with the matter said, Sky News reported.
Terra did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Many challenger banks have struggled to grow and make a profit in recent years. Before the demerger, Monese had posted a loss of £30.5 million in 2022, a 70% annual rise, according to a Companies House filing.
Monese last raised funding from investors in September 2022, including a $35 million Series D round from HSBC.
The Financial Times reported at the time that Monese was in talks to raise £100 million in funding in 2020, valuing it at £1 billion.
(This story has been corrected to remove a company incorrectly listed as a Pocket shareholder in paragraph 2)
($1 = 0.7646 British pounds)
