British digital bank Monzo is a fast-growing business, so it plans to hire up to 500 people and forecasts it will get 5.5 million users this year. It also prepares to have another crack at charging some customers to turn a profit, as its CEO Tom Bloomfield told Reuters it is set to reintroduce paid account plans this quarter.
Monzo has spent a lot of cash to fuel growth and to launch in the U.S., but has had no problems raising capital and is valued at over 2 billion pounds. Launched in 2015, Monzo has about 3.8 million customers in Britain.
Tom Blomfield, the 34-year-old founder and CEO, told Reuters he expected Monzo to top 2,000 staff this year, up from 1,500. The bank has run into problems, however, including the abrupt cancellation of a premium paid-for account in September after only a few months.
“We learned that things that seem a universal truth when you are 50 people, launching iteratively as no one is paying attention, when you do that with 3.5 million customers it’s foolish,” said Bloomfield, CEO Monzo.
A Facebook group called “Monzo stole our money” contained nearly 1000 members who complained that their accounts had been frozen without warning.
Monzo has reported a loss of 47.2 million pounds in 2018 and is in talks with investors to raise between 50 to 100 million pounds.
“Our real focus is on monetization,” Bloomfield said. “We’re looking to drive revenue and do it in a way that’s transparent and fair.”
