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Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

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Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#111

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

krn wrote: post #75
matthewmacleod wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from the obvious horror stories circulating about customer service and culture, I don't see Revolut's offering as more compelling at all. They seem to offer all that stuff that I don't want from a retail banking service – "instant access to 5 cryptocurrencies" or "overseas medical insurance" or "LoungeKey Pass access" are just distracting noise. Each to their own of course, but the thing that really attracted m…

Revolut offers lower ATM fees, lower foreign exchange fees, disposable virtual cards for online payments, and up to 1% cashback on all card payments.

Is Revolut offering lower but less sustainable costs to attract more customers?

Monzo's approach, if they are to be believed, is to try to make charges cover their costs but be small, fair and simple.

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#112

Post by Scirra_Tom »

martinald wrote: post #66
Scirra_Tom wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We use Barclays and have EUR and USD accounts with them which we can see online and make transfers/payments online with. Allows us to have a USD Amex, and do a lot of our Forex with Transferwise. Saved tens of thousands over the years on Forex with this method, and expensing some of our USD infrastructure costs on Amex helps as well. Last pain point for us is getting a USD account in USA so we can cashout Paypal USD…

Transferwise can give you a US ACH account with a USD balance which you can then convert and send. Not sure if that helps?

Paypal need a USD account in USA, with a bank statement from said account showing your business name. I don't think that would do it.

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#113

Post by krn »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #111
krn wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Revolut offers lower ATM fees, lower foreign exchange fees, disposable virtual cards for online payments, and up to 1% cashback on all card payments.

Is Revolut offering lower but less sustainable costs to attract more customers? Monzo's approach, if they are to be believed, is to try to make charges cover their costs but be small, fair and simple.

> Is Revolut offering lower but less sustainable costs to attract more customers?

Revolut broke even on monthly bases in December 2017[1], and Monzo was still loosing money in April 2019[2].

[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-fintech-revolut/fintech-r...

[2] https://metro.co.uk/2019/04/08/monzo-set-100m-funding-despit...

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#114

Post by easytiger »

krn wrote: post #75
matthewmacleod wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from the obvious horror stories circulating about customer service and culture, I don't see Revolut's offering as more compelling at all. They seem to offer all that stuff that I don't want from a retail banking service – "instant access to 5 cryptocurrencies" or "overseas medical insurance" or "LoungeKey Pass access" are just distracting noise. Each to their own of course, but the thing that really attracted m…

Revolut offers lower ATM fees, lower foreign exchange fees, disposable virtual cards for online payments, and up to 1% cashback on all card payments.

> and up to 1% cashback on all card payments.

No it doesn't

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#115

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

krn wrote: post #113
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is Revolut offering lower but less sustainable costs to attract more customers? Monzo's approach, if they are to be believed, is to try to make charges cover their costs but be small, fair and simple.

> Is Revolut offering lower but less sustainable costs to attract more customers? Revolut broke even on monthly bases in December 2017[1], and Monzo was still loosing money in April 2019[2]. [1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-fintech-revolut/fintech-r... [2] https://metro.co.uk/2019/04/08/monzo-set-100m-funding-despit...

Interesting. Maybe Revolut's paid accounts work out well for it or it's able to earn profit from certain services.

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#116

Post by rchaud »

> The company is one of several so-called challenger banks taking advantage of the growing shift among consumers toward handling their finances on a smartphone.

As opposed to handling their finances on a website, like people have been doing for the past decade? Even the smallest credit unions have apps these days. What is "fintech" about this?

> The branchless bank is now making £4 on each customer it signs up to the platform, versus a £15 loss per customer last year, according to a company spokesperson.

Where's the GBP 2.5 billion valuation coming from then? There's not much detail at all in the article. I don't want to default to cynicism, but this seems like a company whose profile fits the current SV hype train, puffing up valuations and eventually taking the company public, all before a single penny of profit has been made.

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#117

Post by easytiger »

krn wrote: post #113
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is Revolut offering lower but less sustainable costs to attract more customers? Monzo's approach, if they are to be believed, is to try to make charges cover their costs but be small, fair and simple.

> Is Revolut offering lower but less sustainable costs to attract more customers? Revolut broke even on monthly bases in December 2017[1], and Monzo was still loosing money in April 2019[2]. [1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-fintech-revolut/fintech-r... [2] https://metro.co.uk/2019/04/08/monzo-set-100m-funding-despit...

This is the second post that you've made that isn't true. Revolut is not profitable. It reports an operating loss.

What's your reason for such inaccurate information?

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#118

Post by nicoburns »

rchaud wrote: post #116

> The company is one of several so-called challenger banks taking advantage of the growing shift among consumers toward handling their finances on a smartphone. As opposed to handling their finances on a website, like people have been doing for the past decade? Even the smallest credit unions have apps these days. What is "fintech" about this? > The branchless bank is now making £4 on each customer it signs up to the…

Not sure I agree with this. A huge number of young people I know in the UK have switched to Monzo as their primary bank account. The business model is simple: the same as any other bank. Their competitive advantage is:

1. Having better technical capabilities than traditional banks (they have apps, but they're usually limited and clunky).

2. Not having physical branches, and the associated costs.

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#119

Post by SpeakMouthWords »

lordnacho wrote: post #12

The UK bank space could do with some fresh players. Currently I'm looking for a new bank for my business, because: 1) I need to have foreign currency accounts. My bank has them, but I'm unable to see the accounts when I log in. They've known about this for 4 months now, and I keep getting sent in circles by the Indian call centre. They've sent me to branch twice, with no coordination, the people in the branch can't h…

Incidentally what doesn't Monese (https://monese.com/business) have that you need? Is it the end-of-year statement?

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#120

Post by krn »

coconut85 wrote: post #108
krn wrote: post #23

I wish Monzo was available in continental Europe as an alternative to Revolut before expanding to the US. As a product, I find Revolut to be much better thought-out offering for both, private customers[1] and businesses[2], but as a company I trust Monzo a way more. [1] https://www.revolut.com/our-pricing-plans [2] https://www.revolut.com/business-accounts-made-easy

Why not Bunq? It's smaller but good. Bunq also has an impressively good API. Way more things to do than with Monzo or Revolut.

> Why not Bunq?

I find Bunq to be pretty unique. The entire product seems to be design by a hacker who loves to think in numbers: "3 beautiful cards of your choice", "25 bunq bank accounts", "10 ATM cash withdrawals per month". Everything is simple and clear, but also a bit overwhelming. I think it's #1 European challenger bank for technically-minded people with no-nonsense attitude, but other mobile-first banks seem to require a bit less mental overhead and are more intuitive to use for an average person.

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