British fintech start-up Monzo has launched in the United States, as it looks to challenge the country’s established banking giants. Monzo has unveiled plans to roll out service to the US in the “next few months,” including the mobile app and a Mastercard debit card. It’ll build the audience slowly by connecting with hundreds of people at a time at events before it conducts a wider-scale launch. However, don’t expect it to function as a bank at first. It’ll be closer to a money transfer service akin to Venmo or Apple Pay Cash.
To help with the U.S. launch, Monzo partnered with domestic lender Sutton Bank. It has selected LA as its initial U.S. base, and is looking to expand to other cities.
“When it comes to consumer apps, banks are at least a decade behind the ease and feature-set of a Lyft or an Airbnb, not to mention sloth-like and unimaginative when compared to the innovation cycle in the apps we use every day,” Monzo’s CEO Tom Blomfield said in a statement.
“With Monzo, we aim to make money work for everyone by working with our community of users to build things that work for them.”
It’s not shocking that Monzo would make the trip across the Atlantic. The digital banking space is heating up, and Monzo has both experience and momentum on its side. Even a limited launch could get its foot in the door and ensure that you’re at least aware of the company by the time it’s ready to offer full-fledged banking services. If it waited until everything was ready, it risked being passed over in favor of existing options like Chime or Simple.
