Challenger Bank Current Nets $131M On $750M Valuation

U.S. challenger bank Current has raised $131 million in a Series C funding round, according to a press release.

The round was led by Tiger Global Management, while new investors Sapphire Ventures and Avenir also contributed alongside existing investors Foundation Capital, Wellington Management Company and QED Investors.

Current has had a good year, seeing its member base double in less than six months, now past 2 million members. The company’s revenues have increased over 500 percent this year.

The new funding, according to the press release, will aid the company in expanding product offerings and meeting the needs of customers.

CEO and founder Stuart Sopp said the new round would help the company continue on its path toward providing for the customers in need of affordable banking.

“We are committed to building products specifically to improve the financial outcomes of the millions of hard-working Americans who live paycheck to paycheck, and whose needs are not being properly served by traditional banks,” he said, according to the release. “With this new round of funding we will continue to expand on our mission, growth and innovation to find more ways to get members their money faster, help them spend it smarter and help close the financial inequality gap.”

While mobile or digital banking has seen marked increases since the pandemic began, there’s still a sizable contingent of people who haven’t gotten on board, at least partially due to unsatisfactory experiences in the past. PYMNTS reports that the onus now falls on the banks to try and improve operations to the point that those customers would be drawn in.

According to the PYMNTS and Entersekt collaboration Mobile Banking App Report: Tapping Authentication To Boost User Engagement, one way to improve things would be making it easier to make major changes, such as adding people to an account or opening new ones — a task that many prefer to do in-person as opposed to on a mobile app.