Starling Bank has completed an internal fundraise of £130.5 million, which has raised the company’s pre-money valuation to more than £2.5 billion.

The fundraising round included existing investors Goldman Sachs, Fidelity, Harold McPike, RPMI Railpen and Qatar Investment Authority.

A spokesman for the company said: “This will enable us to continue our growth and to build a war chest for acquisitions. We are looking at a number of potential targets.”

The raise comes after Starling began its acquisition strategy last year with the purchase of a £1billion home loans portfolio from Kensington Mortgages and the acquisition of buy-to-let specialist mortgage lender Fleet Mortgages for £50 million.

The bank has also launched a banking-as-a-service division for businesses and challenger banks.

The challenger bank, which is competing with the likes of Monzo and Revolut for market share, now has more than 2.3 million retail and business accounts and saw revenue jump 600 per cent to £97.6 million, according to its most recent set of financial accounts.

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