London Social Bank Kroo Raises $24.5M Toward Launch

London-based social bank Kroo recently raised 17.7 million pounds ($24.5 million) in Series A funding in a round led by Karlani Capital Founder Rudy Karsan.

Company leaders say they’ll use the money to bulk up operations, improve its app and grow Kroo’s engineering, marketing, product, compliance and customer service teams before its planned launch next year.

Kroo will allow its banking customers to participate in shared financial activity and back social causes with financial might. The company plans to test its concept through a prepaid card issued by PayrNet Ltd., and create ways for people to track their personal and social finances, track spending and split and pay bills quickly and securely.

The company has launched a tree-planting referral program.

Related: Revolut Raises $800M At $33B Valuation Led By SoftBank

Another British digital bank startup, Revolut, last month hit a $33 billion valuation following an $800 million funding round led by SoftBank and Tiger Global. The bank will use the fresh funds to create new products and support marketing in the U.S. and India.

Revolut has more than 16 million customers using its foreign exchange, stock trading and cryptocurrency trading products.

Read next: UK FinTech Starling Bank Sees Revenues Soar 600 Pct

Meanwhile, British FinTech Starling Bank saw its revenue rise by nearly 600 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to a report released by the bank last month. The company’s revenues increased to 97.6 million pounds for the period ending March 31, up from 14 million pounds in November 2019.

Starling’s deposit base grew by nearly 500 percent to 5.8 billion pounds, up from 1 billion pounds in 2019, while customer account numbers more than doubled to 2.1 million pounds, compared to 926,000 pounds in 2019.

The bank’s trading update shows that revenue hit 42.8 million pounds in the three months to the end of June 2021, Q1 of its current financial year. That puts Starling’s annualized revenue run rate at more than 170 million pounds.