Former Tesla exec Tim Newell to spin off Aspiration’s consumer financial services division
Former Tesla executive Tim Newell has reached an agreement with climate finance company Aspiration Partners to spin off its consumer financial services division.
Tim Newell will lead the new standalone company (Image: LinkedIn)
The new standalone company will continue to operate under the Aspiration brand name and will now act as an independent neobank offering environmentally sustainable products.
Commenting on the transition via a post on LinkedIn, Newell, who will act as the spin-off company’s CEO, states that he has “completed a management buyout” with Aspiration Partners.
The move establishes a new independent company focused on providing US consumers with a “new generation of climate-friendly financial products”.
The firm offers sustainable savings, checking, and investment accounts for climate-conscious individuals. It also aims to bolster its array of offerings by venturing into lending, investment, banking, credit, and insurance services.
Mission Financial Partners, which was founded by Newell in 2023, will serve as the operational entity for the Aspiration brand.
Mission Financial Partners will run as a fintech and not a bank, with banking services on the Aspiration platform to be supplied by Coastal Community Bank.
In addition, the entirety of Aspiration’s consumer business management team and employees have agreed to join Newell as the founding team of the new venture.
In a blog post on the company website, Newell explains the reasoning behind the need for a new standalone enterprise. Having previously led Aspiration’s consumer fintech division as COO of Aspiration Partners, he states: “As Aspiration grew, it expanded its role in climate finance, investing in global carbon markets and helping corporations offset their carbon emissions.
“While that strategic shift towards serving large enterprises opened up new areas of growth for Aspiration Partners … it also resulted in competing priorities with the company’s original consumer-focused mission.”
Inquiring minds want to see the curiously-absent REST of the paragraph that began with “As Aspiration grew, it expanded its role in climate finance, investing in global carbon markets and helping corporations offset their carbon emissions.
“While that strategic shift towards serving large enterprises opened up new areas of growth for Aspiration Partners … it also resulted in competing priorities with the company’s original consumer-focused mission.” Specifically, please, what does this MEAN?
The full statement is here, on the Aspiration website (although not sure it’ll shed more light tbh): https://www.aspiration.com/resources/aspirations-next-steps