British digital bank Starling raises £50 million from Goldman Sachs, BFSI News, ET BFSI

British digibank Starling received a £50 million (Rs 523.75 crore) investment from Investment Bank Goldman Sachs, the digital lender announced in a statement. The investment by Goldman Sachs, through its Goldman Sachs Growth Equity Fund, follows Starling raising £272 million (Rs 2849.07 crore) through its Series D funding round in March 2021. Cumulatively, through both raises, Starling said it had raised £322 million (Rs 3372.44 crore).

Founder and CEO of Starling Bank, Anne Boden, on the fund-raise said “Securing the support of another global financial heavyweight demonstrates the strength of demand from investors and represents yet another vote of confidence in Starling.”

“Goldman Sachs will bring valuable insight as we continue with the expansion of lending in the UK, as well as our European expansion and anticipated M&A,” added Boden.

James Hayward, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs added “Starling is one of the leading and most innovative digital banks in the UK, with an ambitious technology-first leadership team and addressing a deep market opportunity.”

The digital bank, founded in 2014, currently has over two million current accounts, which includes 3.5 lakh business account. Starling said its deposit base had also increased from £1 billion (Rs 1047.36 crore) to £6 billion (Rs 62841 crore) in less than a year and was on its path to declare its first full year in profit by the end of the next financial year.