From what I’ve read the scheme is capped at £5m per company and is a loan. Also, Tom wrote on Twitter that this sounds like a great scheme for series A and B startups (ie. Not Monzo)
Monzo is way too big for it and they wouldn’t want a loan anyway. They could raise £5m in about 5 seconds from crowdfundung.
but its got the Monzo badge on the front of the offer 
A couple hundred million dollars from the West Coast or a £5m loan from the British government. I wonder which they are going for 
Monzo are undoubtably having difficulties at the moment , just as all firms, governments , public are but we will get through it 
Thinking to the extreme then, if Monzo crash and burn then what can you do with your shares?
I thought they were worthless and illiquid, so would they just disappear too?
frame them ? - yes of course if the firm goes bust the shares are worthless
Thought so 
I don’t see any point in being concerned about it then. It’s something that we can’t control or get out of, so if it happens it happens 
Like if I get hit by a bus tomorrow or not
I think we are a long way from that
I don’t know… there’s a lot of promotion about going green and using public transport more 
lol I was about to say , dont go out tomorrow
Sorry if this is a bit rambly - just a summary of competitor news and my opinion.
N26 just raised another $100m at $3.5bn valuation - announced yesterday but not noticed on here as no one in the UK cares about them other than that one guy here who will defend them to the death. Funding source: https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/05/n26-raises-another-100-million-in-series-d-extension/
Revolut are reportedly on the prowl for acquisitions with too much cash to know what to do with. They were very recently valued at $5.5bn and there are still many question marks hanging over them (Google the terms " Revolut is the most hyped fintech in Europe. Can it grow up?" for today’s FT article about them).
The few Fintechs listed on stockmarkets are all trading close to their all time highs (see EU:ADYEN NYSE:SQ NYSE:GPN NYSE:BR). While they are all in the payments area, it’s still an indicator for investor appetite.
Meanwhile Monzo is trucking along growing 2% a month through only word of mouth and quietly applying for a US federal license (which is huge).
It makes the talk on here of Monzo having a down round vs a year ago (<£2bn) a bit ridiculous.
I think if N26 is worth $3.5bn today then Monzo is worth more than $3.5bn.
Is there anyone other than that one guy who would disagree with this?
I’d say in the real world, that the valuations aren’t worth the paper they are written on.
That guy is brilliant.
I don’t imagine big banks would struggle with creating a new banking system, not if Monzo could create one from scratch in a small amount of time. It’s the migration from their old systems which is where the effort and cost is. So buying Monzo for £2b just for their banking system wouldn’t be of much benefit imo
Perhaps.
N26 has more customers globally than Monzo and is available in more countries suggesting that future growth in those countries might be easier for them to achieve, then for Monzo which is limited atm to the UK (and looking to expand in the the US)
However, I’m not aware of N26 being as ‘established’ as Monzo is in the UK but perhaps they are in places like Germany.
You mean apart from the 9 figure cheques that come off the back of those valuations!?
Real world, it means nothing. Lets see what the ACTUAL valuations are when floating.
Well, the valuations mean that N26 have received $100m for giving up c.3% of their business.
In the real world, the business has received that cash. Appreciate other investors can’t sell at that price/valuation but it does mean something pretty tangible!
By the way, I agree with your general premise that the valuations we’re seeing are too high for the public markets to bear.
Yes, you could argue that N26 were unable to compete with competitors in the UK - not just Monzo or Starling but also the legacy banks - though I would say this was more down to their poor strategy and execution here. The UK retail banking/fintech market is one of the most competitive globally.
However, as Monzo has reached critical mass in the UK it may find future growth here slower than say N26 which is concentrating on other (less competitive?) markets… and without my knowing the underlying health of the businesses, VC valuations tend to relate heavily to future expectations of growth in customer numbers.