Family banking app gohenry has raised $40m in growth capital to accelerate expansion and boost financial education for families in the US and UK.
The company, which launched in 2012, now has a community of more than 1.2 million parents and children who are invested in learning the vital skill of being good with money. gohenry’s mission is to innovate digital banking and payments and revolutionise financial education to help 6-18 year-olds learn good money and financial habits in an increasingly cashless world
The company has doubled its customer base annually over the past six years and has been profitable since March 2020. The new funding round will be used to accelerate the expansion of gohenry’s combined fintech and edtech solution across the US, where the company launched in 2018, and for continued growth within the UK.
Alex Zivoder, CEO, gohenry, said: “For too long, kids have been locked out of the digital economy and parents lack the tools to help their children gain confidence with money and finances. gohenry was the first to respond to these needs in 2012 when we launched a groundbreaking financial education app and prepaid debit card that truly empowered children.
“In 2020, we’ve achieved three key milestones: becoming profitable which many B2C fintechs seek, raising $40m during Covid, and partnering with world-leading funds. All three will help us fuel our US expansion.
“We are proud to partner with Edison Partners, Gaia Capital Partners, Citi Ventures and Muse Capital. Their endorsement allows gohenry to accelerate its expansion and roll out yet more innovations to customers.”
Recognised by LendIt Fintech as the Fintech Equity Investor of the Year for two-years running and also by Institutional Investor as a Fintech Finance Power Player, Edison Partners has financed and guided more than 235 private companies, including financial membership platform MoneyLion and digital wealth management platform Yieldstreet.
Chris Sugden, Managing Partner, Edison Partners, who led the investment said: “gohenry is catering to millions of parents who are looking to raise smart, financially literate children but are currently underserved by existing solutions.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Alex and the gohenry management team on this next milestone in their growth journey and look forward to realising their ambitions to improve the financial fitness of kids across the globe.”
Chris Sugden will join the gohenry board of directors along with Dawn Zier, an accomplished CEO and marketing expert, best-known for engineering the transformation and growth of Nutrisystem, Inc, as a publicly-traded company in the US.
Gaia Capital Partners is an entrepreneurial growth equity investment fund whose mission is to champion the new generation of sustainable tech leaders. They have backed a number of successful business scaling from Europe to the U.S. such as teen social app Yubo and cloud telephony software Aircall.
Elina Berrebi, Founding Partner of Gaia Capital Partners, commented:“gohenry is a pioneer in the family finance space, fulfilling the critical mission of improving financial literacy of young people.
“Thanks to the strong engagement of their large community of users in the UK and the US, they have built a very healthy business model at the crossroads of fintech and edtech. We are very proud to partner with the management of this European gem and support their journey to become a global leader.”
Through the gohenry app, UK parents provided £98 million in pocket money in 2019, and their children were paid more than £2.2 million for completing tasks around the house.
In the same year, gohenry’s young customers directly contributed just under £100 million to the UK economy, with children donating more than £53,000 to gohenry’s UK charity partner, the NSPCC.
