Starling Bank raises £130.5m to build acquisition war chest

The UK digital bank said the funding will be used to “continue our growth and to build a war chest for acquisitions”

Starling Bank has completed an internal fundraise of £130.5 million at a pre-money valuation of more than £2.5 billion.

The UK digital bank said the funding will be used to “continue our growth and to build a war chest for acquisitions”.

“We are looking at a number of potential targets,” a spokesperson said.

Starling acquired specialist buy-to-let mortgage lender Fleet Mortgages in a £50 million cash and share deal last year and continues to expand its Marketplace integrations, most recently with PensionBee.

The latest fundraise follows last year’s £50 million extension to its oversubscribed £272 million series D funding round, led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity.

That investment took the series D round to £322 million.

Image: Starling Bank

Mark Dugdale