The Atom Bank team (Credit: Atom Bank) There is now no shortage of mobile challenger banks springing up across the UK, with disruptors like Revolut, Monzo, Tandem and Starling all vying to upset the financial services apple cart and provide digital alternatives to the high street incumbents. It’s also interesting to see the figures Monzo is dealing with. Crunchbase News first …
However, if you go solely off customer numbers then that puts Monzo in first place, with over 500,000. Users can log in using face and voice recognition and receive support from a 24/7 customer service team. Atom Bank plc is based in Durham, North East England. Atom Bank is slightly different from the other challenger banks out there. Atom Bank has raised $584.52 m in total funding. Active, ClosedLast funding round type (e.g. Launched by Anthony Thompson, the former Metro Bank founder, it focuses only on savings accounts and mortgage offerings. Atom Bank valuation is $1.3 b, and annual revenue was £36.53 m in FY 2019.
Amelia is a reporter for Verdict, covering global news, economics and business. Last year, the challenger gained 404,764 new users, which should bring its new customer base to over 500,000. The startup’s chief executive, Ricky Knox, said in a statement: “Building a good bank is incredibly important to us. Crunchbase News is a digital publication covering the intersection of technology and money. Qonto. We had a look at the main offerings in the market, with a focus on startups that had received banking licenses already. One thing that is interesting about Tandem is that it was built by over 11,000 co-founders. One of Britain's leading digital-only lenders is launching a £50m fundraising after its biggest shareholder decided not to mount a full takeover bid amid continuing Brexit-related uncertainty.Sky News has learnt that Atom Bank has begun talking to investors about the new funding round in recent weeks.The discussions kicked off after BBVA, the Spanish banking powerhouse which holds a stake of nearly 40%, opted not to exercise an option to acquire the remainder of the shares before it expired at the end of last month, according to insiders.They added that the ongoing lack of clarity about the terms of Brexit and its impact on the UK economy had played an important role in BBVA's decision.People close to the situation said that Atom, which is being advised by bankers at Citi, was targeting £50m of new equity, a smaller fundraising next year and then a £175m capital injection as part of an initial public offering in 2022.The company is among a cluster of British digital lenders, which include Monzo, Revolut and Zopa, to raise hundreds of millions of pounds from investors as part of a concerted challenge to the hegemony of high street banks.Atom Bank's latest fundraising comes roughly a year after it raised almost £150m from investors led by BBVA.Spain's second-biggest lender, which declined to comment beyond expressing its continued support for Atom's strategy and management, could yet lodge a takeover offer for the business in future.If it did so, it would become the latest financial institution from the country to control a major UK consumer lender.Santander snapped up Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester and parts of Bradford & Bingley prior to and during the financial crisis to forge Britain's fifth-biggest bank.Banco Sabadell has had a rocky time since its takeover of TSB, which was hit hard by severe IT systems issues but has since begun to stage a recovery.Atom has made steady, if unspectacular, progress since its launch in 2016, with well over £1.3bn taken in customer deposits.It now has plans to expand its product range to instant access accounts, ISAs and a move into serving small business customers.Atom was founded by Anthony Thomson, who co-founded Metro Bank, and Mark Mullen, a former First Direct executive.Mr Thomson, who stepped down as chairman last year, has since established a new digital bank in Australia.He was replaced at Atom by Bridget Rosewell, one of the company's non-executive directors, and a board member at Network Rail.In 2017, Atom signed a deal with the rapper and producer Will.i.am to act as a technology consultant and spokesman for it.The tie-up represented an attempt by Atom Bank to distinguish itself in a market inundated with new entrants.Under the deal, Will.i.am has an option to acquire up to 3.55 million shares in Atom Bank at a price of £1.15-per-share during a three-year period.While Atom's board believes there is a significant opportunity for a service-led bank with few of the overheads associated with high street branch networks, its emergence has also highlighted some of the growth challenges confronting challenger banks.Atom has opted to stay out of the personal current accounts market for an indefinite period because of the poor returns and high costs involved in offering the products.A number of other financial technology companies, including Zopa, have obtained banking licences as they add to the competition in the sector.Atom declined to comment on its latest fundraising.
Atom ha “Atom bank” and “the Bank” refers to Atom bank plc (company number 08632552). Monzo is focussed on building the best current account in the world and ultimately working with a range of other providers so that Monzo can be an intelligent hub for your entire financial life. The application, available on iPad and iPhone devices, was launched in March 2014 and its operations are based in Durham, the United Kingdom. Get our eye opening email newsletter delivered to your inbox daily.You are in control of the communications you receive from us and you can update your preferences anytime to make sure you are receiving information that matters to you. Users can log in using face and voice recognition and receive support from a 24/7 customer service team. Seed, Series A, Private Equity)Tags are labels assigned to organizations, which identify their belonging to a group with that shared labelWhether an Organization is for profit or non-profitTransaction Name: Auto-generated name of transaction (e.g. With the advent of open banking this weekend, the UK banking scene could be all set to change. In addition, the startup has over £400m in deposits, as a result of the takeover. Tandem isn’t disclosing how much it paid for the pleasure of acquiring Harrods Bank.