How to leverage your London fintech job for something bigger in San Francisco
2015 was a very different time for the fintech. There was more money and more internecine strife, as exhibited by Starling Bank CTO Tom Blomfield's alleged attempt to wrestle control Starling Bank from CEO Anne Boden in an attempted "coup". Things have quietened down now and with both moving away from the sector, the dust appears to have settled.
Boden announced today she is stepping down as CEO of Starling Bank, eight years after the event. She remains a member of the board and owns 4.9% of the $2.5bn valued fintech unicorn.
After leaving Starling following the coup's failure, Blomfield founded Monzo, now valued at £3.7bn. This wasn't his first time founding a fintech; Blomfield was one of the earliest arrivers in the London fintech ecosystem when he founded Gocardless in 2011 at the tender age of 26 years old.
Blomfield has been lightly treading away from London since he stepped away from Monzo in 2021. He was a visiting partner at startup accellerator Y Combinator but has just made that move to San Francisco permanent. His primary area of focus will be AI.
Monzo and Starling Bank remain two of the three biggest digibanks in London, alongside Revolut. Though Revolut is valued far higher at $28bn, both Monzo and Starling have something that yet eludes its grasp... a banking license.
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