Monzo courts CVC and Advent for a stake of up to 15% after Nubank talks fail on price

Autonomous objected in terms of multiples. A price of £8bn to £10bn implied roughly seven times tangible book value, well above levels at comparable lenders, the research firm said ^[7]. Working backwards, seven times book puts Monzo's tangible book value at about £1.1bn to £1.4bn ^[15]. The same range is 1.8 to 2.2 times the £4.5bn mark from Monzo's 2024 secondary share sale, a step-up in under two years ^[8][17].

A stake of up to 15% ^[2] puts the valuation in front of a different kind of buyer. At £10bn, 15% of Monzo is £1.5bn. At the 2024 mark it is £675m, a gap of about £825m ^[16][18]. The fund writing that cheque gets a minority position in an eleven-year-old bank that has spent the past year working through boardroom friction while it hunted for growth funding, according to Crowdfund Insider ^[9].

If CVC or Advent signs at or near £10bn, a financial buyer has accepted a price Nubank would not, and the case that the valuation is slipping is wrong. If the stake prices closer to £4.5bn, the £10bn was a number only a strategic acquirer could justify, and the one strategic acquirer named in the reporting has said it is out ^[5]. Monzo could also skip a single large mark and take a conventional venture round of smaller stakes, a route Crowdfund Insider says remains open ^[10].

I'd expect the stake to price below £10bn. A buyout fund taking 15% would be paying a multiple Autonomous already called well above comparable lenders ^[7], and it would get none of the control a full buyer would have had. The case against that view is competition. People familiar with the process say private equity became the preferred route once the Nubank talks ended, and that Monzo's advisers are expected to widen outreach to more fund managers ^[3]. Several funds bidding for one stake is how a seller holds a price. A single signed deal at an implied £10bn would settle the question in Monzo's favour.

Nubank walking away was also a decision about where to spend. Nu Holdings, with a market capitalisation of roughly $65bn ^[5], chose to put its resources into its home markets and the United States, where it recently secured a banking licence ^[6].

The wider claim, that fintech exits are moving to partial sales to buyout firms, has one example in this reporting. Crowdfund Insider describes a recalibration among venture-funded digital banks facing narrower exit routes ^[11]. Its peer examples took other paths. Revolut put licensing and geographic expansion ahead of a sale, and Starling focused on profitability after talk of a London flotation faded ^[12]. Chime agreed to buy its long-standing partner bank for $590m ^[13]. Advent is the name that recurs. It is in the Monzo talks ^[2], and earlier this year it joined Stripe in an offer for PayPal at a headline value near $53bn that remained an uncompleted proposal ^[14].