To bring the weekly allowance into the digital era, Mozper created a debit card and app designed for kids and their parents in Latin America. On Monday, the fintech startup announced it had closed a $3.55 million seed funding round.
The round brings the total funding to $5.1 million and was led by Hetz Ventures with participation from Miami-based Secocha Ventures, F-Prime Capital, Foundation Capital and Dux Capital.
Mozper offers a Visa debit card and an app where parents can give their kids an allowance, set spending rules, assign chores and create and track savings goals, so the app acts as a financial coach. The investment will enable Mozper to further solidify its position as first mover for youth banking in Latin America by penetrating the Mexican market, where it launched in August. The startup also plans to expand into Brazil in 2021. Mozper graduated from Y-Combinator this summer.
“Through using our Visa debit cards and app, children get a hands-on, real-world financial education appropriate for the digital era. We truly believe there is no financial inclusion without education,” Gabriel Roizner, CEO of Mozper and based in Miami, said in the announcement.
Roizner co-founded the startup with fellow Uruguayan Pablo Klestorny, CTO, and Yael Israeli, CFO, in January 2020, and their team is distributed across the Americas. In August, in a joint press conference with Visa, the startup launched in Mexico City with a closed beta including 500 families. Over 90% of the families continue using the app, and Mozper launched to the general public on Nov. 2, seeing consistent growth of 20% week over week, said Israeli, who is based in Panama.
“We are excited to see that it was so well received, that parents are finding value in it,” particularly during the COVID lockdown, said Israeli, in a phone interview. “Unfortunately, in those cases, the kids were spending money but on the parents’ credit cards. From several parents, we’ve heard thank you for getting my kid off my card.”
The Mozper team is a remote team of 10 right now, with 5 of them in Mexico City now, “and headquartered on Zoom,” said Israeli, who has a background on Wall Street. Roizner is on his third startup and has run companies in both Mexico and Brazil. Klestorny, based in Uruguay, built the feature-rich, fully compliant fintech product inside of six months, she said.
“At Secocha Ventures, we’ve been focused on investing in companies that solve for financial literacy and inclusiveness. The problem is global but the solutions need to be tailored for each market. We’ve invested in other companies that are tackling this problem in different ways, but this is our first such investment focused on the pre-banked and in Mexico,” said Sanket Parekh, Managing Partner of Secocha Ventures. “Throughout our conversations with Gabriel, Yael & Pablo, we have been completely aligned on Mozper’s long-term vision and have been extremely impressed by the team’s in-depth market understanding and ability to execute fast. We are incredibly excited to partner with them.”
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