Launched in February 2019, the firm is initially offering a prepaid debit card. The new funding will support its mobilisation phase, ahead of its launch in early 2022. It is also looking to grow its team as it works towards securing a full banking licence.
Kroo will seek to differentiate itself from the UK giants of digital banking by building a bank more focused on ‘social features’, prompting groups to act together on financial matters. It is currently offering one such deal, in a manner similar to Bunq, that when a customer successfully refers a friend Kroo plants 20 trees with the aim of creating a forest of 1 million trees.
In addition, he adds that it will further look to draw a line in the competitive space by appealing to peoples’ ‘social conscience’ and will eventually donate a percentage of profits to social causes. In pursing monetisation, the firm has learnt several lessons from early firms in the sector and will be pursuing a more traditional route to revenue growth via growing lending volumes.
The round was led by Rudy Karsan, an entrepreneur who sold HR platform Kenexa to IBM in 2012 and runs founder of Karlani Capital.
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