UK mobile-only bank Monese has secured $60 million in capital giving it some handy oomph to fuel its international banking ambitions.

Series B round is led by Kinnevik, with participation from PayPal

The Series B round is led by Kinnevik, with participation from PayPal, European investor Augmentum Fintech and International Airlines Group for its loyalty and data business Avios Group. Existing investors including Investec’s INVC Fund also participated.

Monese has been making progress and is enjoying its third year in the marketplace.

Last month it unleashed free student accounts as it attempted to get new account holders at a young age – and hope they stay.

Prior to that, in 2017 it went pan-European with its mobile current account; and debuted direct debits.

According to Monese, it now has nearly 600,000 users who are moving over $2.5 billion a year. It says the number of new monthly customers has been tripling since the end of 2017.

The funding will be used for the usual stuff – increase the size of its operations, international expansion, and recruit more staff in its London and Tallinn (Estonia) offices. It will also open a new office in Lisbon, Portugal.

Monese adds that at the beginning of 2017 it was a team of 36. Since then, that team has quadrupled.