Monese
“Can a license-light EMI-agent neobank for expats survive consolidation by integrating into Pockit's broader underbanked-consumer financial OS?”
Founded2015
HQLondon, United Kingdom
FoundersNorris Koppel
Total raised$201M+
Latest roundAcquired by Pockit (Q4 2024)
IndustryFintech / Neobank
The story
Monese launched in 2015 as one of the first UK challenger banks targeting expats and EU residents who struggled to open accounts at incumbents. It never obtained its own banking license, instead operating as an EMI-agent of PrePay Technologies (UK) and PPS EU (Belgium). After struggling to reach profitability, Monese pivoted in 2023 by spinning out XYB, a B2B coreless BaaS platform. Following continued financial pressure, it was acquired by Pockit in Q4 2024 and has since adopted Pockit's product playbook — notably the SteadyPay-powered Income/Cash Advance product.
Last 12 months
Product timeline
2015
Monese founded by Norris Koppel; launched UK mobile money accounts targeting expats/non-residents· banking
2020
Partnered with Qover to launch embedded Bills Protection and Purchase Protection insurance· insurance
2023
Spun out XYB, a coreless Banking-as-a-Service platform (partnered with Paymentology for card issuing)· pivot
2024
Acquired by Pockit in Q4 2024· acquisition
2025
Launched zero-interest Income Advance / Cash Advance product (powered by SteadyPay)· lending
Regulated entities
3
regulatory licences held by Monese
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
6 layers disclosed in Monese’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Monese (self-operated e-money account)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
KYC
in the full report
FX & payouts
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
9 more providers across 5 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.