🚀 bunq Hits 20M Users + Starling Eyes £4B Valuation

Hey Digital Banking Fanatic!

Big milestones, big money moves.

My Amsterdam’s own bunq just hit 20 million users 🎉 as it turns 10.

To celebrate, they dropped a shiny new app redesign—cleaner look, smoother navigation, and faster access to bunq’s full menu (accounts, cards, savings, stocks, even crypto).

Founder Ali Niknam says the mission is the same as day one: build a bank people love to use. Now, bunq’s eyeing the US market with a broker-dealer license in the works. Scroll down to read all about it👇

Meanwhile in London, Starling is shopping for a £4 billion valuation via a secondary share sale, tapping Morgan Stanley and Rothschild to run the process.

That’s a big leap from its £2.5bn tag in 2022—right as Revolut is testing the $75bn waters. Investor appetite for UK neobanks? Alive and kicking.

Scroll down for the full breakdown and more digital banking news.

Cheers,

Marcel

PODCAST 

🎤 Partnerships transforming payments with Ash Sharma, Head of Commercial Partnerships at Checkout.com. In this episode of Connecting the Dots in FinTech, Arthur interviews Sharma to discuss the strategic development of partnerships in the FinTech space. He reflects on his career journey from roles at Visa and Citi to his current position, offering insights into how traditional finance experience influences innovation in digital payments and Web3. You can also listen to us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts

NEWS

🇳🇱 bunq reaches 20 million users as it marks its 10th anniversary. To mark the occasion, bunq has introduced a complete app redesign and a suite of new features. The new design offers a cleaner interface and more intuitive navigation, making it easier for users to stay in control of their money.

🇬🇧 Starling Bank targets £4bn valuation in secondary share sale. The neobank has approached investment banks, including Morgan Stanley and Rothschild, to run the sale process. They added that the process could value Starling at between £3.5bn and £4bn.

🇩🇪 Scalable Capital receives a banking license and will offer loans in the future. The licence enables Scalable to provide all investment and banking services from a single source: alongside responsibility for account management, trading, clearing, settlement, and custody, it will now also accept client funds as deposits and conduct lending business.

🇺🇸 Chime is introducing a new Chime Card with cash back rewards and an elevated design. The new Chime Card helps members build credit with their everyday purchases while adding rewards, a refreshed design, and a seamless in-app experience.

🇬🇧 Revolut introduces Pay by Bank option. Pay by Bank payments offer a more secure solution for merchants and reduce costs by skirting card-based interchange fees. Customers can pay directly from their bank account without the need to manually enter card details.

🇬🇧 London FinTech Monese says it needs more cash to survive after Pockit takeover. The current account and money transfer business said it was likely further funding would be required within the next twelve months, as auditors Blick Rothenberg warned there was a material uncertainty over the firm’s operations.

🇺🇸 Taktile unveils AI Agents enabling banks to process 5x more SMB loans without extra headcount, eliminating bottlenecks and freeing underwriters to focus on high-value, strategic decisions. Taktile’s AI agents are production-ready, instantly adaptable, and deployable in weeks. 

Want your message in front of 100.000+ Digital Banking fanatics, founders, investors, and operators?

Shoot me a message on LinkedIn or send me an e-mail.