Monese acquires freelance service provider Trezeo

Trezeo is an award-winning Dublin and London based financial services provider that offers a unique subscription-based income smoothing and digital financial safety net to the UK’s independent workers, gig workers and the self-employed. Trezeo is an FCA authorised lender and is backed by a number of highly experienced investors and partners including: Barclays, through its accelerator powered by Techstars; Ireland’s national start-up accelerator programme, NDRC; Nationwide through its Open Banking for Good Challenge; the UK Cabinet office, through the Inclusive Economy Partnership; Mastercard’s Center for Inclusive Growth, and the RSA’s Future of Work Centre. The company was founded in 2016 by Garrett Cassidy and Flavien Charlon.

The acquisition, Monese’s first, is part of a wider push at the European fintech to expand its products and services, by offering credit and lending to consumers with untraditional working and income patterns. This comes off the back of Monese’s recent launch of Bills Protection insurance – a safety net to help customers in the UK cover their regular rent, utility and grocery bills in the event of accident, sickness and involuntary loss of employment, or hospitalisation.

This partnership brings together two European fintech companies with a shared vision for the future of financial services and a deep passion for engineering excellence in product development.

As part of the acquisition of Trezeo and its Dublin-based team, Monese will expand its European footprint, with a workforce in Ireland, and an increased focus on the Irish market. Garrett Cassidy will lead Monese’s credit strategy and join Monese’s Leadership Team, and Flavien Charlon will lead credit technology at Monese.

Norris Koppel, Founder and CEO of Monese, said: “We’re very excited to be announcing this acquisition today. This is the start of us moving further into credit and lending and broadening our services for independent and self-employed workers, which will significantly enhance our offering to our existing customers.

Many of Trezeo’s target customers are our customers: gig workers, side-hustlers, go-getters, and all those working towards achieving their dreams. We know these workers are looking for more of a safety net, particularly when it comes to accessing credit.

“Modern, digital financial services have a great opportunity to serve this ever growing workforce and help them juggle the pressures and priorities of post-pandemic life.”

Garrett Cassidy, CEO and Founder of Trezeo, said: “We are very pleased to be announcing the acquisition of the business by Monese. We started Trezeo five years ago with the ambition to serve the independent and self-employed workers who power towns and cities. We have since developed a totally unique financial services platform for this rapidly growing workforce.

“This acquisition allows us to continue to deliver our mission, under the Monese brand, to a much bigger audience across Europe. We are two companies that are very closely aligned in mission and purpose. We’re very excited about what we can achieve together.”