Jonas Huckestein is one of the five co-founders of Monzo. The others are Tom Blomfield, Paul Rippon, Gary Dolman and Jason Bates. The team had met while working at Starling Bank.
The company started in 2015 under the name Mondo. A trademark challenge forced a rename, and a public naming contest ended with Monzo. It was registered under that name in August 2016.
In 2016 a £1m round on Crowdcube sold out in 96 seconds. Monzo raised £71m in 2017 and £113m in 2019. A £60m down round in 2020 cut its valuation to about £1.24bn.
The bank made its first annual profit, £15.4m, in the year to March 2024. A secondary share sale in October 2024 valued it at $5.9bn. In 2025 the FCA fined it £21m over financial crime controls.