Freetrade should have paid attention to how Monzo did it.
Two points I noted when freetrade sold out;
it turns out Viktor sold out in the early round securing the £3.something share price, I also was tempted to exit then but freetrade was all, “We’re doing so well, up and up from here”, so I held on - I had no idea at the time that Viktor had sold otherwise I would have too.
there was an interview with Adam just before he left where he literally said on record “we almost failed so many times … etc.” and I thought what the hell! It was never mentioned in any fund raising literature that freetrade was struggling and indeed had on more than one occasion almost collapsed, everyone from freetrade was all “we’re doing great and moving to profit” - a) lying gits and b) what the hell crowdcube, you’re supposed to do due diligence.
Any shareholder not holding enough to influence the company is irrelevant, need to stop pretending otherwise. You will not be able to retire on your Monzo stake, so you’re better off not cutting into any return you will see from a Monzo sale by refusing to use another bank giving you a better product.
This happens a lot with Crowdfunding. Look at Jaja, people took like a 90% hit on shares when investment was moved into Jaja UK from Jaja Norway.
As a novice crowdfunder, that has been hammered once, with the likelihood of being stuffed again with Monzo, or dying first, and hearing various examples of woe.
Is there any real point to crowdfunding, and has there EVER been any significant wins? Is there any success rate to speak of, or is it just a complete gamble? Are all crowdfunders small shareholders, or are there some big holdings via this route?
Surely rewarding the crowdfunder/small shareholders is a relatively cheap way of generating some goodwill for the Company, and perhaps an appetite for further dabbling? Or is it just dog eat dog and only the usual greedy elite and big players are ever going to make any money?
Yes, early on? Everyone sees Monzo doing well and feels part of Monzo because they own a bit of it. Realistically owning 0.0001% of a company doesn’t mean much legally though.
Not a comment on Monzo (which I hope will be an exception), but Crowdfunding has - I think - failed as a concept.
It’s alternatively used as a marketing tool, which means that investors aren’t treated seriously and respectfully, as a distressed investment route (i.e. the company can’t find ‘respectable’ investment through standard funding routes, so turns to the crowd with a good narrative but little data), or (very occasionally) as a means to retain control and avoid board seats being given to institutional investors. And that’s before the finance crowd play their usual games in using what they would consider industry standard instruments (like preference shares) to legally disadvantage individuals in the crowd.
Is any company offering these seeing uptake though?
Revolut Mobile numbers haven’t been released, I’ve not heard N26 getting a lot of customers in Germany (I imagine they would have if they’d gotten a lot of them), Klarna Mobile hasn’t come out yet (or only has a handful of customers on early launch). The competition in this market is insane and I can’t see a high uptake coming soon.
Just think about it - you won’t get an amazing deal from any of them compared to going direct with the carrier or their cheaper brands (Smarty etc) or another purpose built MVNO (Lyca, Mozillion etc).
The only thing I can think of is that with the model being well known and many banks trying it, I doubt they didn’t get solid research done before making the move.
In any case, it’s always a good sign that a company is venturing outside their comfort zone.
Is it? A bank being a great bank is a good thing for investors - a bank wasting money on starting an MVNO in probably the most or sencond most competitive market in Europe is just silly. I hope they haven’t spent a lot of money on it.
Especially with the whole ‘account closing scandal’ and requiring customers to be a bank customer to make use of the eSIM. Keeping me away from even considering Revolut’s.
Maybe the raw customer value isn’t actually the thing they’re going for here - but retention of the small percentage of customers that are ‘full Monzo’ paying their salaries into the accounts, paying for Max and also giving them a few quid (after costs) for this mobile plan.
Wouldn’t be surprised if SpaceX, Anthropic & OpenAI IPOs end up being the top of this market cycle and Monzo doesn’t IPO in time, and we’re left waiting for another 3+ years
Gemini is saying “With Morgan Stanley already advising them and conducting initial investor meetings, Monzo has its bags packed. If the macro environment looks stable next week post-SpaceX, expect Monzo to formalize its banking syndicate and timeline very quickly.”
I think Diana’s appointment resets the clock sadly. I suspect she’ll want to demonstrate meaningful user growth & revenue from EU countries so that they have an international story to tell at IPO. What’s more, interest rates being held in place in the UK is good tailwind for UK revenue so I can see why they’d think “why rush?”.
I’m crossing fingers for the second half of 2027 but I’m not holding my breath! Worth saying that there is a non-zero chance of a further fundraise and a secondary offering later this year but I’ll be pretty skeptical crowdfunders will have an opportunity to sell given Monzo has a track record of only looking after staff.
