Greenlight raises $54m to release debit card for kids
Children’s debit card and app start-up Greenlight Financial Technology raised $54m in a Series B funding round led by Drive Capital and joined by JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.
The Atlanta-based fintech’s app can monitor children’s spending, set savings goals, request cash and send children alerts when a guardian loads money to their card, all the while ensuring kids can’t overspend and guardians have full control over spending categories such as stores, restaurants and websites.
Greenlight wants to use this investment to improve children’s financial literacy
With other participation from TTV Capital, Live Oak Bank, and Relay Ventures, Greenlight wants to use this investment to improve children’s financial literacy, starting with the half a million parents and kids who have signed up.
“We’re thrilled to partner with our Series B investors to bring Greenlight to millions of new families and help parents prepare their children for healthy financial futures,” says Greenlight’s CEO Timothy Sheehan.
He adds: “In the near future, I hope that this generation of kids grow up to spend wisely, learn the importance of saving and feel confident investing to build wealth over the long-term.”
For Wells Fargo, Greenlight’s “rapid growth” has been impressive. But most importantly, it’s the financial literacy element which drove the investment, says Wells Fargo’s head of strategic partnership investing Thomas Richardson.
Sheehan says that, with the help of Richardson and his team, future versions of the app will feature educational layers and some form of investing functionality to rival digital bank competitors.
