Monzo is currently pegged at $5.9 billion following the confession by the U.K.-based challenger bank that it was indeed undertaking a secondary market share sale to provide liquidity for its employees.
Present investors such as Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and StepStone Group acquired more shares in the London-based fintech.

A sale in the secondary market is basically a payment for employees who got a company to where it is without going public-or, for that matter, with more years.

It has been quite the action-packed year for Monzo. Just two months into its $425 million Series I round, where Alphabet's CapitalG and its sister VC firm GV were surprised co-investors, the company raised $190 million in May. The startup has since its foundation nine years ago raised approximately $1.5 billion.

When it closed its March fundraise, Monzo reported its pre-money valuation as £3.6 billion ($4.6 billion), which meant a post-money valuation of £4 billion ($5 billion) — the valuation rose by a few percentage points with the second tranche that followed in May. Just a month later, in June, Monzo reported its first full year of pre-tax profit, while revenues had more than doubled to what they were the prior year. The company claims 20% of U.K. adult customers and 6% of businesses in the country.

This growth, combined with a roll-out plan that includes wider expansion across Europe and hopes to accelerate its roll-out in the US market where it installed a new CEO last October, has clearly been sufficient to provide a valuation bump over the past five months.

Only last week, rival U.K. neobank Revolut confirmed a new valuation of $45 billion after securing its own banking license in the U.K. and Mexico by selling shares in a similar secondary market sale.

"It's fantastic to give employees some liquidity whilst also meeting additional demand for Monzo equity from investors," Monzo CEO TS Anil said.