UK challenger Starling secures £130.5m funding at £2.5bn valuation

UK challenger Starling Bank has completed an internal fundraise of £130.5 million at a pre-money valuation of more than £2.5 billion.

Starling Bank is now valued at £2.5bn

The firm will use the new funds to continue its growth and also plans to “build a war chest for acquisitions”.

“We are looking at a number of potential targets,” says a spokesperson.

Starling made its first acquisition in July last year, a £50 million deal for buy-to-let mortgage group Fleet Mortgages.

The neobank last raised £50 million in April 2021 in a round led by Goldman Sachs. The funding was an extension of the bank’s £272 million Series D funding round, which it secured in March 2021 alongside a pre-money valuation of £1.1 billion.

The London-based challenger offers personal, business, joint, euro and dollar current accounts and a children’s card. It also offers B2B Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.