Crowdfunding investments

Rothko

Looking to go in on the Monzo crowdfunding round which opens next Wednesday morning. Is there anything I should worry about or advice before putting money into this?

Has anyone invested in a decent start up, is it throwing good money after bad? Not looking to put lots of money in, but naturally risk adverse doing this for the first time.

I do bank with them, and suspect they are going to be the next big thing.

https://monzo.com/invest/

SE10Addick

Thinking about doing the same but with Crowdfunding you never seem to get a "good" deal. The companies nearly always seem overpriced.

That said, i think Monzo are going places. If you pay tax (i'm sure you do), you can get SEIS tax relief, but I dont think this round with Monzo will qualify.

I've invested into a couple of start ups, but you really just need to see it as a punt - a gamble.

MrOneLung

I am sure @PragueAddick invested in few crowdfunding sites a while back

Rothko

SE10Addick said:

Thinking about doing the same but with Crowdfunding you never seem to get a "good" deal. The companies nearly always seem overpriced.

That said, i think Monzo are going places. If you pay tax (i'm sure you do), you can get SEIS tax relief, but I dont think this round with Monzo will qualify.

I've invested into a couple of start ups, but you really just need to see it as a punt - a gamble.

When you see that 15% of all new bank accounts in the UK are Monzo accounts, they seem to be doing a decent job.

kentaddick

Heard about this this morning. Seems a bit overpriced and it’s always a risk buying shares in something unlisted. I can see monzo perhaps being bought out by a major bank, but apart from that... not sure how much legs this has...

Que in 5 years or so this post gets quoted as a told you so or “what an idiot he missed out on this”

SE10Addick

Rothko said:

SE10Addick said:

Thinking about doing the same but with Crowdfunding you never seem to get a "good" deal. The companies nearly always seem overpriced.

That said, i think Monzo are going places. If you pay tax (i'm sure you do), you can get SEIS tax relief, but I dont think this round with Monzo will qualify.

I've invested into a couple of start ups, but you really just need to see it as a punt - a gamble.

When you see that 15% of all new bank accounts in the UK are Monzo accounts, they seem to be doing a decent job.

They're doing a great job - i'm actually tempted to drop HSBC who i have been with for over 20 years to just use Monzo.

I think they will be around in the long term - they have just got their banking licence for the Republic of Ireland and i can see them blitzing through the rest of Europe in a few years.

PragueAddick

MrOneLung said:

I am sure @PragueAddick invested in few crowdfunding sites a while back

Not guilty! Maybe donations to a couple of crowdfunded causes; but more likely you are thinking of me in the context of P2P lender discussion, have a fair bit in that.

Rothko

SE10Addick said:

Rothko said:

SE10Addick said:

Thinking about doing the same but with Crowdfunding you never seem to get a "good" deal. The companies nearly always seem overpriced.

That said, i think Monzo are going places. If you pay tax (i'm sure you do), you can get SEIS tax relief, but I dont think this round with Monzo will qualify.

I've invested into a couple of start ups, but you really just need to see it as a punt - a gamble.

When you see that 15% of all new bank accounts in the UK are Monzo accounts, they seem to be doing a decent job.

They're doing a great job - i'm actually tempted to drop HSBC who i have been with for over 20 years to just use Monzo.

I think they will be around in the long term - they have just got their banking licence for the Republic of Ireland and i can see them blitzing through the rest of Europe in a few years.

I left First Direct for them, hugely impressed with the app, the customer service and just the way it works. Simple things of just having my balance live rather then guessing what the 'available balance' is

Chunes

At their rate of expansion and the popularity of the app, I can't agree that it's overpriced.

I wish I was a UK resident and I could invest.

SE10Addick

Chunes said:

At their rate of expansion and the popularity of the app, I can't agree that it's overpriced.

I wish I was a UK resident and I could invest.

An institutional investor like a VC will get a better price on this, but that's a lot to do with the fact that these crowdfunding campaigns cost a lot to run and are almost a pseudo marketing campaign.

Still, I am keen to stick some cash into this!

Rob7Lee

You’ll need to wait for a return.

I expect the big banks to catch up and you have others like Starling.

Rothko

Rob7Lee said:

You’ll need to wait for a return.

I expect the big banks to catch up and you have others like Starling.

It took Barclays three years to develop their own card freezing technology.

Starling are interesting, seem more interested in building the stack and then allowing people to white label that technology.

EastStand

Rothko said:

Rob7Lee said:

You’ll need to wait for a return.

I expect the big banks to catch up and you have others like Starling.

It took Barclays three years to develop their own card freezing technology.

Starling are interesting, seem more interested in building the stack and then allowing people to white label that technology.

I actually chatted to one of the product managers over at Barclay's online dept at a work thing a couple a weeks ago - they're shitting bricks over companies like Monzo

bobmunro

EastStand said:

Rothko said:

Rob7Lee said:

You’ll need to wait for a return.

I expect the big banks to catch up and you have others like Starling.

It took Barclays three years to develop their own card freezing technology.

Starling are interesting, seem more interested in building the stack and then allowing people to white label that technology.

I actually chatted to one of the product managers over at Barclay's online dept at a work thing a couple a weeks ago - they're shitting bricks over companies like Monzo

As they should. The main high street bank monopoly has had it too easy for too long with appalling customer care. I dumped them a long time ago.

Rothko

It was this, and Apple Pay integration that got me over the line. You can't imagine any of the big banks being this proactive

https://twitter.com/t_blom/status/1037995734392610816

kentaddick

Chunes said:

At their rate of expansion and the popularity of the app, I can't agree that it's overpriced.

I wish I was a UK resident and I could invest.

I just read they haven’t really launched in the US yet.. think that’s a massive market untapped that Silicon Valley types would love.

I have a monzo account and was ridiculously easy to set up and I can cancel or freeze my card with a quick tap. Can create pots etc too.

If I had any capital I would be interested in investing. Seems a pretty interesting long term investment

kentaddick

https://www.ft.com/content/0e6e17e2-7ae8-11e8-bc55-50daf11b720d

Ft article from earlier in the year. Always will be a punt to invest in loss making companies.

cafcpolo

Didn't they lose around £30m in the last financial year? The struggle they'll have is trust over high street banks...They might have 15% of all new accounts but how many of those people are actually using them to deposit their salaries / everyday banking?

Still...Might be worth a punt!


Edit: Just had a look, FT reckon that 80% of people do not use it to deposit their wages.

kentaddick

cafcpolo said:

Didn't they lose around £30m in the last financial year? The struggle they'll have is trust over high street banks...They might have 15% of all new accounts but how many of those people are actually using them to deposit their salaries / everyday banking?

Still...Might be worth a punt!


Edit: Just had a look, FT reckon that 80% of people do not use it to deposit their wages.

I don’t. I use it to limit my spending money and keep an eye on it. A lot easier than using banking apps, which are slow and clunky.

Rothko

They were losing money because of the legacy of the pre paid cards, but I believe they now make money on each customer, and costs per customers have dropped massively

cafcfan1990

cafcpolo said:

Didn't they lose around £30m in the last financial year? The struggle they'll have is trust over high street banks...They might have 15% of all new accounts but how many of those people are actually using them to deposit their salaries / everyday banking?

Still...Might be worth a punt!


Edit: Just had a look, FT reckon that 80% of people do not use it to deposit their wages.

That will come IMO. Definitely agree they are going places, but that runs the risk of them being bought out by a major Bank.

Been with them around 6 months and can't recommend them enough.

JaShea99

I love it for all the reasons mentioned above. I also spent weeks faffing around with proof of address, ID etc when trying to open a joint account with my partner with Tesco. Monzo managed it in about 2 days.

kentaddick

JaShea99 said:

I love it for all the reasons mentioned above. I also spent weeks faffing around with proof of address, ID etc when trying to open a joint account with my partner with Tesco. Monzo managed it in about 2 days.

yeah it is so easy, picture of your drivers license and recording a video (which i did in my dressing gown) and takes under an hour to be approved (this was on a sunday), 2 days later your card arrives in the post.

cafcpolo

kentaddick said:

Chunes said:

At their rate of expansion and the popularity of the app, I can't agree that it's overpriced.

I wish I was a UK resident and I could invest.

I just read they haven’t really launched in the US yet.. think that’s a massive market untapped that Silicon Valley types would love.

I have a monzo account and was ridiculously easy to set up and I can cancel or freeze my card with a quick tap. Can create pots etc too.

If I had any capital I would be interested in investing. Seems a pretty interesting long term investment

Assume you'd lose too much taking it out of the crypto given how much of a beating it's taken over the last two weeks?

kentaddick

cafcpolo said:

kentaddick said:

Chunes said:

At their rate of expansion and the popularity of the app, I can't agree that it's overpriced.

I wish I was a UK resident and I could invest.

I just read they haven’t really launched in the US yet.. think that’s a massive market untapped that Silicon Valley types would love.

I have a monzo account and was ridiculously easy to set up and I can cancel or freeze my card with a quick tap. Can create pots etc too.

If I had any capital I would be interested in investing. Seems a pretty interesting long term investment

Assume you'd lose too much taking it out of the crypto given how much of a beating it's taken over the last two weeks?

Rothko

Crypto is a risk I'm never taking!

newyorkaddick

Monzo is a relatively well-established 'start up' which has raised money from both traditional and crowdfunded sources, but on average I would expect that crowdfunding retail investors will be shown an adverse selection of potential investments which have likely exhausted traditional (and generally more sought after) sources for reasons which would likely lead one to want to steer clear.

bobmunro

newyorkaddick said:

Monzo is a relatively well-established 'start up' which has raised money from both traditional and crowdfunded sources, but on average I would expect that crowdfunding retail investors will be shown an adverse selection of potential investments which have likely exhausted traditional (and generally more sought after) sources for reasons which would likely lead one to want to steer clear.

This.

MrOneLung

Can you really only draw out 200 a month from a cash machine ?

JohnBoyUK

MrOneLung said:

Can you really only draw out 200 a month from a cash machine ?

I dont think I've drawn out £200 in total over the last 18 months. Is there any real need for cash these days?

Robbo on the wing

Says the Tottenham supporter..