Starling Bank company profile: valuation, funding & revenue

This Starling Bank company profile covers the company's valuation, revenue, funding rounds, investors and history. Starling Bank works in fintech, with a focus on digital banking and banking software. It was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in London, England, United Kingdom. Every figure links to a public source, and anything the company hasn't disclosed is marked as such.

Revenue

£714 million (up from £682 million) — Annual revenue, year to 31 March 2025 (company-reported), as of FY2025. Source: Starling Bank.

Funding history

No funding rounds recorded from reliable sources.

Starling Bank timeline

Key dates from the sources on this page, oldest first. Metric snapshots are listed after the funding events.

• 2014 — Starling Bank is founded in London by Anne Boden.
• FY2025 — Profit before tax: £223 million statutory; £281 million underlying.
• FY2025 — Engine (software-as-a-service) revenue: £8.7 million, up from £2.3 million.
• FY2025 — Customer deposits: £12.1 billion.
• FY2025 — Open accounts: 4.6 million.
• FY2025 — Regulatory fine: £29 million FCA fine over financial crime controls.

Investors

Overview

Starling Bank is a UK digital bank offering personal, joint, business and children's accounts through a mobile app, with no branches. It's particularly strong in business banking for small companies and sole traders. Unusually among UK digital banks, Starling built its own core banking technology from scratch, and it now sells that technology to other banks around the world through a separate business called Engine.

Anne Boden, a veteran banker, founded Starling in London in 2014. She stepped back from the CEO role in 2023, and Raman Bhatia became CEO. Starling has been profitable for several years, earlier than most of its digital peers.

How Starling makes money

Starling earns most of its revenue the way traditional banks do: from net interest income, the difference between what it earns on loans and reserves and what it pays on deposits. It also earns fees from card transactions and business banking services. Its large base of small business customers gives it a valuable source of low-cost deposits, and higher interest rates in recent years increased its income significantly.

Engine adds a different kind of revenue: software licensing. Other banks pay to use Starling's core banking platform to launch or modernise their own digital banks.

Revenue and profit

For the year to 31 March 2025, Starling reported:

• Revenue: £714 million, up from £682 million.
• Profit before tax: £223 million on a statutory basis, down from the prior year, and £281 million on an underlying basis.
• Deposits: £12.1 billion.
• Open accounts: 4.6 million.

It was Starling's fourth consecutive year of profit. Statutory profit fell because of one-off costs tied to two legacy matters: a £29 million fine from the Financial Conduct Authority over weaknesses in its financial crime controls, and an issue related to government-backed Bounce Back Loans made during the pandemic. Return on tangible equity fell to 17.9% from 31.5%, still healthy for a bank.

Engine: the software business

Engine is Starling's bet that its technology can be worth as much as its banking business. Engine revenue grew to £8.7 million in FY2025 from £2.3 million, and two software clients launched on the platform during the year. Starling's later reporting describes the platform as powering more than six million accounts worldwide. Engine's revenue is still small compared with the bank, but investors value software revenue at much higher multiples than banking revenue, so its growth could significantly affect Starling's overall valuation in future.

Regulatory issues

The FCA fine related to failings in Starling's financial crime prevention systems as it grew rapidly, including onboarding high-risk customers. Fast-growing digital banks across Europe have faced similar scrutiny, as regulators expect controls to keep pace with customer growth. For Starling, resolving these issues and showing stronger controls is important both for its banking business and for Engine, since other banks need confidence in the platform they're buying.

Valuation

We haven't found a recent, confirmed valuation for Starling in the sources we used, so we show it as not disclosed. Starling has raised money from a range of investors over the years, including Goldman Sachs according to press reports, but its recent growth has been funded mainly by its own profits.

Competitive landscape

Starling competes with the UK's big banks, other digital banks such as Monzo and Revolut, and specialist business banking providers. Engine competes with established core banking software vendors and newer cloud-native providers. Starling's distinctive position is being both a profitable bank and a technology vendor.

What to watch next

Watch Engine client wins and revenue growth, especially outside the UK, the bank's profit trend as interest rates fall, progress on regulatory remediation, and any IPO or new investment. A separate valuation for Engine, or a spin-off, would be a notable development.

Key facts at a glance

Starling Bank is a London digital bank founded in 2014 by Anne Boden and now led by CEO Raman Bhatia. In the year to March 2025 it reported revenue of £714 million, statutory profit before tax of £223 million and underlying profit of £281 million, after a £29 million FCA fine and a Bounce Back Loan issue. It had £12.1 billion in deposits and 4.6 million open accounts. Its Engine software business grew revenue to £8.7 million.

Why business banking is Starling's strength

Small businesses and sole traders have long been poorly served by large banks: opening an account could take weeks, fees were opaque, and digital tools lagged behind consumer apps. Starling made opening a business account possible in minutes through an app, added integrations with accounting software, invoicing and tax tools, and offered marketplaces of add-on services. Business customers tend to keep higher balances and use more services than personal customers, which makes them valuable for a bank. Starling's early focus on this segment helped it build a large deposit base and reach profitability sooner than many digital rivals that concentrated on consumers.

How UK digital banks compare

The comparison shows different strategies. Revolut is the largest and most international; Monzo has the most UK customers; Starling has the strongest profitability relative to its size and a unique software business. Note that the reporting periods differ.

Questions businesses ask before choosing a bank

• How quickly can the account be opened, and what documents are needed?
• Which accounting and invoicing tools integrate directly?
• What lending and overdraft options are available as the business grows?
• How are payments handled internationally?

For many small businesses, the deciding factor is how much time the bank saves on bookkeeping and invoicing each month. A trial period running real transactions through the account is the best test, and it is worth asking other business owners in your sector which banks they use and why.

Their experience often tells you more than any comparison table, especially about support quality.

Ask them directly before you decide.

What this means if you're…

A small business owner: compare business accounts on fees, integrations with accounting software, lending options and support. Deposits at UK-licensed banks are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to its limit.

A bank or fintech: Engine is one option for modern core banking. Compare it with other platforms on migration risk, cost and regulatory track record.

An analyst: separate Starling's banking and software businesses when thinking about value, since they deserve very different multiples.

Latest developments (October 2026)

Starling is looking to the United States. City AM reported that the UK bank is considering either a US banking licence or buying a mid-sized US bank that could be moved onto Engine, its software platform for other banks. Engine has opened a New York office, and Bloomberg Law reported that Starling is weighing a New York listing. No deal or filing has been announced. See our largest UK startups guide.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from the public sources below. Where sources disagreed, we used the company's own announcement or a primary news report. Private-company data changes; check the date beside each figure.

1. Starling Bank
2. Starling Bank annual report
3. NBC (CNBC syndication)