Starling Bank, one of a competitive bunch of challenger banks born in the Europe, has raised £75m in further funding as it looks to expand out into Europe. The Series C funding round was led by a £60m investment from Merian Global Investors, including Merian Chrysalis, with a further £15m coming from existing investor Harald McPike.

Starling will look to use the capital to support its investment in financial products relating to retail and SME banking as well as banking services in the UK. Furthermore, it intends to accelerate its efforts to expand globally, starting with Europe.

“Building our platform and launching in the UK to provide genuine choice to retail, SME and Banking-as-a-Service customers was just the first step,” said Anne Boden, founder and chief executive of Starling Bank. “Our ambition is to use our technology to build a next-generation global, digital banking platform, starting with our launch across Europe this year.”

The mobile-only bank now boasts 460,000 personal current accounts and 30,000 SME accounts, and hopes to hit 1m customers by the end of this year.