Pockit taps shareholders for £13.4m after losses quadruple

Pockit has raised £13.4m from shareholders as it seeks to plug growing losses following its acquisition of London fintech Monese. The firm, which offers pre-paid cards to customers without the need for a credit check, said it completed the raise in May 2026 from venture capital investor Concentric as well as Shore Capital-owned investment firm Puma Growth Partners. The funding round came after the fintech secured a £5m loan from a famous Spanish railway architect, as City AM revealed in March. Pockit posted a £10.3m pre-tax loss for 2024, a more than quadrupling on the previous year, according to the firm’s latest accounts, while total turnover rose by around a half to £7.4m. The accounts, which were filed six months after the statutory deadline, show the total number of staff at the firm increased from 37 to 46 during the period. Pockit snaps up Monese Pockit added another 99 staff to its headcount at the end of December 2024 following its acquisition of Monese, the fintech which was put up for sale after its technology arm, XYB, was spun out as a separate business. Pockit said the deal “brings together complementary capabilities, including Monese’s established customer base, customer acquisition channels and technology platform, alongside Pockit’s growth strategy and operational expertise.  “The enlarged balance sheet and [electronic money licence] permissions enhances the group’s ability to generate revenue from customer deposits, including interest income on held balances, supporting the development of a more diversified and sustainable revenue model.” Monese’s own accounts, which were published last month, show the fintech suffered a major widening of losses as its bottom line was hit by restructuring costs following its takeover by Pockit. The London-based firm – which provides mobile-only current accounts, multi-currency wallets, and money transfer services – booked a pre-tax loss of £15.9m in the 2024 financial year. Fresh accounts – which were also filed well after the deadline – revealed Monese’s revenue dropped to £12.2m, down from £14.9m in the year prior. But a hefty portion of this fall came from the spin-off of XYB, Monese’s former business-to-business arm which was offloaded in May 2024. Pockit founder Virraj Jatania has said the firm focuses on the “bottom half” of UK adults – some 20m to 22m people – who are often poorly served by mainstream financial services. Jatania said most of Pockit’s users are those experiencing “cashflow volatility” – mainly blue collar workers, those in the gig economy and freelancers with sporadic incomes, as well as those with non-existent or thin credit records who find it difficult to open accounts with high street banks.