Starling is reportedly planning a secondary share sale which would value the challenger bank at up to £4 billion.

On Wednesday two people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times that the neobank has already approached several investment banks, including Rothschild and Morgan Stanley, about running the share sale.

According to the sources, the sale could give the bank a valuation of between £3.5 billion and £4 billion.

The newspaper said that Starling has chosen to launch a share sale to enable its current investors to sell down their holdings to open up new opportunities.

Investors include Goldman Sachs, the railway pension scheme Railpen, Chrysalis Investments and Fidelity.

Starling has declined to comment on the report.

The move comes after the publication previously reported that fellow neobank Revolut is also running a secondary share sale with a target $75 billion valuation.

If the share sale goes ahead, it would mark Starling's latest sale process since 2023.

At the time, its valuation was cut by £1 billion when fund manager Jupiter offloaded its holding in the company.

The digital bank recently announced the launch of a new brand platform called “Good with money”, as well as the rebranding of its visual identity, brand mission and media strategy including the launch of an updated logo, colour palette and app design later this year.

In June, it launched a new generative AI (genAI)-powered chatbot in what the digital bank describes as a UK industry first.

The new tool, called ‘Spending Intelligence’, enables customers to ask questions about their spending, with the in-app tool providing instant analysis on everything from how much a customer has donated to charity in the past year to how much they have spent on groceries.

The chatbot also produces graphs and analytics in response to questions to help customers track their spending habits over time.

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