Over here, there’s been some conversation about firms that Monzo might acquire / merge with.
I thought that deserved its own topic. I think Monzo has said that it’s open to acquisitions, so what do we think?
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As a starter, I’m thinking about this in three ways:
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Horizontal expansion: acquisition of a bank in another market to give Monzo a foothold there.
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Vertical expansion: acquisition in an existing market (the UK or the US) but for a different product set. For example, acquiring a mortgage or insurance company.
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Buying customers: acquiring a company just for its customer base. For example buying a US fintech and moving all customers to Monzo US.
I really liked the digital recepit company (forgotten their name now) but someone that integrates similar that does digital receipts would be great in my opinion.
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Freetrade is still the first one that comes to mind for me. I know that’s not going to happen now, and asking for it is probably similar to all those investors who were calling on Apple to buy Tesla.
Much like Apple with the Car, it seems like Monzo are too far into building their own that buying a pre-existing product makes little sense.
Other than that, I’m not really sure what else there really is out there or why they’d want to acquire someone. I could perhaps see them looking to other sectors to acquire more niche talent. It’s not uncommon for startups to initially outsource things like branding and design, and then later acquire the company they outsourced it too. I think Atom did that IIRC.
I think looking at other markets, a merger is far more likely, or Monzo being acquired themselves. They’re big fish in the U.K., but globally they’re still very small fish. For example, they could merge with Chime, or Chime could buy Monzo, but there’s no reality where Monzo could buy Chime IMO.
Flux died, friend.
Although they weren’t on my list I referenced in the revolut thread, they are another casualty of 2022/23.
Edit: in typing my comment it turns I missed more than just yours! Thought you were suggesting them as an acquisition not answering a question! 
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Flux. But for much the same reason they closed down (or at least went B2B) I don’t think we’ll see the return of these//Monzo buying a similar firm because the data is worth more to the retailers so they’ll never release the data.
I was editing as you were typing, sorry about that!
I’m inclined to think buy-up won’t likely happen, I’m not sure there’s much in the UK left that would be worth it, and I’m not sure Monzo are actually big enough elsewhere to do this.
I suspect gradual expansion, trying to keep ahead of Chase and to a lesser extent Starling is probably on the cards.
Not sure what’s going on US wise - they seem to be pushing ahead with development but I’m not sure how much their base is growing. If anything I’m thinking the US is a reverse of what this thread is saying, which is to build and be acquired.
Who in the UK would they buy now?
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Referral codes go here:
Two for one, think Cheddar provides the cashback route that is missing at the mo
Can you provide a link that isn’t a referral so I can have a look please? Can’t get past your QR code.
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You should have asked instead of flagging the post.
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Doh, I forgot category 4, the acquihire!
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They’re building it in partnership, using APIs from a b2b (I think) investment startup.
I think the article that named the company said that Monzo took an equity stake in them. I suspect Monzo will acquire them if the investment product takes off…
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I either missed that or completely forgot! What’s the company? Or do you have a link for the article please?
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IFTTT 
adding text cos this gives me an error
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It’s somewhere in the Monzo in the Media thread!
It came up the other day. I couldn’t find the original, but a few of us remembered it (unless it was another if those mass hallucinations again).
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Here we go:
The company is Wealth Kernel.
From the article:
In addition, Monzo has held advanced talks with fellow UK fintech Wealth Kernel, a company that provides APIs for trading services, about a potential partnership that would see Monzo provide an equity investment into the startup, according to two London-based sources familiar with the matter. Talks remain ongoing on a deal and no final decision has been made on it yet, one source said.
Monzo and Wealth Kernel declined to comment.
All heavily caveated in the article. Memory’s a strange thing: I remembered it as WK being cited unambiguously as the investment partner and Monzo having definitely bought into them. Obviously not!
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Thank you! Name doesn’t ring a bell so definitely somehow missed that news!
I assume this is them:
Had a very brief look, particularly at portfolio management, and noticing certain buzzwords. Could this be a proper platform and not just a range of tracker funds!? Here’s hoping! 
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I remember being pretty impressed by what the website was selling at least. If it meets the marketing promise, I can definitely see why Monzo would go for them over Freetrade.
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This looks like a back end service vs the whole deal such as free trade. Could be a smart move if so. Buy it, integrate it and sell it onto other providers as a service.
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The freetrade model is a bit broken, there isn’t money to be made in payment for order flow, hope Monzo don’t go into that
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