Qapital lands $30m funding
$30m funding for Qapital
Almost one year after closing a $12 million round of funding, personal finance and mobile banking app Qapital has landed another $30 million, writes Julie Muhn at Finovate.
This brings Qapital’s total funding to $47.3 million.
The investment comes from Swedbank Robur, Norron, SEB Stiftelsen, Athanase, and Northzone. The Sweden-based company will use the funds to build out new robo-advisory capabilities in the form of Qapital Invest, which it plans to launch later this year.
Qapital’s robo-advisory tools will target millennials with a set-it-and-forget-it algorithmic approach that diversifies users’ portfolios based on timing and risk. Users will be able to invest leveraging the company’s customisable savings rules. Notably, Qapital isn’t positioning the investment tool as a way to save for retirement, but rather as another tool to help users speed up savings for mid-term goals, such as a vacation. The company will charge $1 per month for the first $5,000 managed, and 0.25% per year for balances exceeding that amount. This rate is competitive with both Wealthfront and Betterment, which charge a 0.25% annual advisory fee.
Qapital differentiates itself in the PFM space with its If This, Then That (IFTT) savings tool that leverages behavioral economics to get users to save when certain actions are triggered. For example, users can have Qapital set a small amount of money aside each time they visit the gym, every time it rains, or each time Trump tweets. These customisable rules are set up to help users reward themselves for good behavior, deter bad habits, and some are just intended to be ridiculous. Overall, Qapital’s tools have helped users save $500 million.
The company expanded to the US in 2015. Qapital now counts 420,000 users of its creative savings tools, a Visa debit card, e-cheques, and a design-forward banking app. The company doesn’t charge any fees for the above features, and all accounts are FDIC-insured.
