LONDON- British digital lender Starling Bank said on Monday it has completed a 272 million pounds ($376.39 million) fundraising to fuel lending growth and expansion across Europe.
The bank said the series D funding round was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, alongside the Qatar Investment Authority, Railpen and Millennium Management.
The round values the company at 1.1 billion pounds pre-money, the company said, with funds raised also going towards a mergers and acquisitions push.
Since launching in 2017, Starling has attracted more than two million customers and lent more than 2 billion pounds.
The lender has fared better in the pandemic than some start-up rivals, including Monzo, with its business banking push accelerated by taking part in state-backed lending schemes.
Anne Boden, founder and CEO of Starling said the fundraising represented a "huge vote of confidence" in the business.
In a trading update, the company said its net income had topped 1.5 million pounds per month, while customer deposits exceeded 5.4 billion pounds.
($1 = 0.7226 pounds)
(Reporting by Iain Withers, editing by Karin Strohecker and Louise Heavens) ((Iain.Withers@thomsonreuters.com;))
