Venice-based Stackin Inc., a startup that offers financial planning advice via text message, has finalized a $4 million Series A fundraise to build out its platform and grow operations.
The round was led by new investor, San Francisco-based Experian Ventures. Santa Monica-based venture capital firm Wavemaker Partners contributed to the funding round, as did its neighboring firm Mucker Capital.
Both Wavemaker and Experian contributed to Stackin’s July 2018 seed round, which raised a total of roughly $2 million.
Launched in 2017 by Chief Executive Scott Grimes and President Kyle Arbaugh, Stackin has raised $7 million to date.
“This funding allows us to build out new features around banking and investing that will enhance the relationship with our customers,” Grimes said in a statement.
Stackin markets itself mainly to millennials, offering financial consulting and an auto-saving checking account via a smartphone messaging application. It will soon add a personalized investment subscription that allows users to purchase small stakes in popular brands for a monthly fee.
Wavemaker Partners’ Managing Partner Eric Manlunas said his firm wanted to double down on its investment after seeing encouraging user growth.
“We’re firm believers in the demographics they’re targeting, the younger side of the millennials,” Manlunas said. “A lot of these people are underserviced when it comes to corporate banking.”
Stackin currently only refers its customers to existing traditional or digital banks, but it has plans to offer its own banking platform in the near future, Manlunas said.
With “hundreds of thousands” of users engaged with the platform on a daily basis, Manlunas said Stackin has proven that millennial consumers tend to be “more confident with dealing with technology.”
He added Stackin is “trying to catch them at the intersection of financial literacy and the desire to invest for the long-term.”
Tech reporter Samson Amore can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8335. Follow him on Twitter @samsonamore.
