59. Monzo

Founders: Tom Blomfield, Jonas Huckestein, Paul Rippon, Gary Dolman and Jason Bates
Founded: February 2015 (launched October 2015)
Website: https://monzo.com/   

Monzo has relatively moderate ambitions; it is creating the world’s first smartphone-based bank and intends for this to be the best bank “on the entire planet”. Did we say moderate ambitions? We meant to say radical!

Combining a high-tech banking app and credit card (its own MasterCard prepaid debit card), this start-up challenger bank is the brainchild of Tom Blomfield – the founder of GoCardless – and Jonas Huckestein, Paul Rippon, Gary Dolman, and Jason Bates.

“Banking like never before”, Monzo gives users instant balance updates and offers a range of intelligent notifications such as tracking recurring payments and providing summaries of exactly where your money goes each month.

With a team of 30 employees working to develop the business, Blomfield says Monzo is “creating a product that people want” and its recent growth milestones support this. There are currently over 6,000 users trialling the app at beta stage, over 100,000 people on the waiting list, and the start-up has secured £8m in funding including one of the fastest crowdfunding rounds in UK history.

While not a fully licensed bank just yet – it is currently applying for authorisation to become one – and so can’t offer features like direct debits or faster payments, Blomfield believes the company will have bank status within the 12 next months.

If successful, Monzo could not only change the way we bank but could also change our spending habits forever…