UK-based challenger bank Starling Bank raised a £270m Series D round led by Fidelity Management & Research taking its valuation to £1.1bn.
This new funding, the biggest round since the bank’s conception in 2014, included other investors such as Qatar Investment Authority, Railpen and hedge fund Millennium Management.
Starling Bank said the new cash injection – which exceeded its target expectation of £200m – would help to support its growth as the investment will be used to expand in the UK and to launch the bank in Europe.
Commenting on the digital bank’s continuous growth, Starling Bank founder and chief executive Anne Boden said, “Digital banking has reached a tipping point. Customers now expect a fairer, smarter and more human alternative to the banks of the past and that is what we are giving them at Starling as we continue to grow and add new products and services.”
Starling Bank boasts of garnering more than two million accounts, 300,000 of which belong to SME banking customers. Furthermore, its gross lending surpassed £2bn and deposits crossed £5.4bn.
This new round comes after the bank claimed that it exceeded £1.5m in net income every month since October 2020.
In November last year, Boden hinted that she was eyeing taking the bank public.
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