Qapital, the leading personal finance app committed to helping everyday people achieve their goals, today announced its raise of $12M in Series A funding from such notable investors as Northzone, Anthemis Exponential Ventures, Industrifonden and Rocketship VC. The proceeds will be used to strengthen the platform and lay the groundwork for continued reinvention in the financial services sector. Based in New York and Stockholm, Qapital uniquely leverages behavioral economics to bridge the gap between intention and action when it comes to money management. The app’s goal-driven approach encourages users to save for things they aspire for by turning everyday habits and guilty pleasures into opportunities to save.
“We’ve been impressed by what the Qapital team has achieved since we first invested. The fantastic user engagement speaks for itself: the team has built a product that customers really love and the app is consistently rated one of the best personal finance apps in the industry. With millennials looking for banking solutions that put user experience first, we are excited about what the future holds,” says Pär-Jörgen Pärson, New York-based Partner at Northzone.
Founders George Friedman and Erik Akterin plan to go beyond savings, and rewrite the rules of retail banking. Their goal is to help millennials better translate money into happiness. Working with Dan Ariely, Qapital’s Chief Behavioral Economist, Qapital uses the power of incrementalism to keep goals within reach. Their notion: help users make little changes to achieve big results using already established consumer behaviors.
“Our young audience has a natural distrust of traditional banks, but they love using Qapital to help them be more intentional with their money. It’s amazing how things change when people are clear on their goals and can visualize achieving their goals,” says George Friedman, Co-founder and CEO.
Qapital allows users to set a goal and accumulate savings triggered by everyday behaviors, such as grabbing a morning coffee or ordering take-out. Qapital is also the only personal finance app that uses IFTTT (If This Then That) technology, giving users the opportunity to save money by using their favorite apps, like posting a photo to Instagram or reaching a target on Fitbit. In under two years, Qapital has 180,000 individuals who have opened and funded savings accounts and it is adding 10,000 new users accounts each week. Users are setting goals to save for rainy day funds and student loans, to expeditions around the globe.
“With this round of funding we will continue to marry the latest behavioral economic science with cutting-edge technology and beautiful design. We want people to feel good about their money, so we’re creating new experiences that deliver constant small wins for users, helping them gain competence and confidence which leads to savvier spending and more successful savings.” says Ben White, Chief Experience Officer.