Anne Boden, the founder of Starling, has sold her remaining 2.7 per cent stake in the digital bank at a valuation of £1.7bn, according to Sky News.
Sky News reported today that the sale would have raised roughly £45m. The valuation is less than half the £4bn that Starling was reported to be seeking last year in a secondary share sale designed to let some existing shareholders reduce their holdings.
The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that Boden had sold the shares, without giving a valuation. According to the newspaper, the buyers were existing shareholders, among them Starling’s largest investor, Harald McPike.
A Starling spokesperson told City AM: “Our founder has sold her remaining shares in Starling privately to several existing shareholders. This has been done with the company’s full knowledge and we wish her every success with her new venture.”
When contacted by Sky News, Boden said she was unable to comment, and Starling declined to comment. Sky News said the price at which the stake was sold was likely to alarm other investors.
Boden launched Starling in 2014 after senior roles at Allied Irish Banks and Lloyds. She announced in May 2023 that she would step down as chief executive, saying at the time that it was “not really appropriate” for the bank to have a shareholder as its chief executive. She owned 4.9 per cent of the company when she announced her departure.
City AM has reported that her exit followed a clash with investors over fund manager Jupiter’s decision to sell its Starling stake at a price below the bank’s previous valuation.
In February, filings showed that Boden had cut her holding to around 2.7 per cent from 4.3 per cent during the secondary sale process. Business Matters reported at the time that McPike held more than 40 per cent of Starling through his investment vehicle JTC Holdings, and that the Guernsey-based investment trust Chrysalis Investments retained a stake of more than 10 per cent.
The sale follows a year of lower earnings at the bank. In its results for the 12 months to 31 March 2026, Starling reported pre-tax profit of £217.1m, down from £223.4m a year earlier, and revenue of £887.4m, down from £940m.
According to City AM, Starling cited the Bank of England’s falling base rate as the main headwind. Rates fell by an average of 91 basis points over the year, and interest income dropped by £52.5m to £759.2m, City AM reported.
The group also invested £19.7m in Engine, its software-as-a-service arm, which sells Starling’s banking technology to other lenders, according to the results statement.
Declan Ferguson, Starling’s group chief financial officer, said in the results: “Our business delivered sustained earnings against a backdrop of softening rates and certain regulatory restrictions that moderated our ability to grow our UK customer base during the financial year.”
Starling said 56 per cent of its SME customers use it as their primary bank account, and that SME account openings in April were more than triple the level of a year earlier.
Sky News said Starling employs thousands of people and was a major participant in the government-backed loan schemes introduced during the pandemic. The bank has long been touted as a potential listing candidate, although Sky News said there was little evidence that it wanted to pursue a flotation in the near term.
Boden is now working on a new artificial intelligence venture. According to City AM, she began recruiting software engineers last month for a project called Moonshot, seeking candidates with a background in banking technology.
