Money can cause people to be angry. Even the simplest conversations about bills can feel like they are dealing with baggage. It can feel awkward to dance on who pays which bill when in a relationship.
Ivella is a Santa Monica-based startup that wants to build banking products for couples. The startup is launching with a split account product that just raised $3.5 million in funding. DoNotPay CEO Joshua Browder is one of the investors.
Lalji, who helped creators with digital content before jumping into the world of fintech, says that the startup was born out of his own frustration. Joint accounts are the best solution so far because they allow two people to join their accounts and pull from the same pool. Lalji wants to build a split account in which couples maintain individual accounts and balances but get an Ivella card that is linked to both of their accounts.
Couples can set ratios with the shared card, and Ivella will split transactions if they use the Ivella card.
The largest technical challenge that Ivella was confronted with was this one. Ivella wanted to intercept transaction authorizations so that people are only charged what they set their ratio to be, while peer-to-peer platforms split payments in a very rudimentary way. What are the balances of the two user accounts? Is it possible for both users to support their end of the payment? If that is the case, move the money and get approval. A lot of other fintechs don't have an internal ledger to track money moving between accounts.
This wasn't the way the startup began. He admits that the first iteration of Ivella looked similar to a P2P transfer platform. Payments and payment networks only interact with one user account, which was one of the biggest failures of the previous iteration. If you were trying to make a $100 transaction where you and your partner each had $50, it would reject the payment because it would only see one account, or if you only have $100 in your account but your partner has $0, the payment would get
A lot of people fall short because they don't break the mold of what banking looks and feels like. We want to build a product that doesn't feel sterile or like a bank.
Ivella is more than just competing with the idea of joint accounts pushed by banks.
Braid, a startup working on social fintech, recently launched "Pools" as a twist on consumer payments. A fund for this summer's Italy trip, shared car gasoline expenses or a kitty to put toward monthly book club snacks are just some of the ways people can set up a Braid Pool. The creator can either manage it alone or with others. The startup received a $9 million seed round in 2020.
The company raised a $1.5 million seed round last year. Many standard joint accounts give users complete access to other users' finances, while Zeta wants to give people a more flexible way to share money
A strategy to split finances is one that Aditi Shekar believes is an answer to a temporary mindset.
Couples who are less focused on splitting and more focused on sharing are our focus. She said it was a difference in state of mind. One that has long-term value to deliver is what we think.
We think founders need a quick Heart to Heart about the market
She said that once a couple is sharing, there needs to be flexibility around sharing, but the core dynamic is that you are a team.
Ivella will focus on products to support couples at any stage of their relationship, including joint accounts, credit products and joint investment products, long term. I need to know if their startup's core clientele are couples who are on route to marriage but aren't yet married or ready for joint account. Ivella needs to prove that it can get customer acquisition costs low and high if it wants to be taken seriously in the future.
Revenue from interchange fees is the core of Ivella's monetization strategy. Lalji said that points and rewards will be launched under a premium subscription that will include some additional features.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
