附近上门

Four months after graduating from , has launched in Mexico and raised a $3.55 million seed round to develop an app and debit card program designed for children and parents in Latin America.

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Mozper, which essentially aims to digitize children鈥檚 pocket money, operates out of Mexico City and was founded in December 2019 by , and . Parents in Brazil and Mexico alone give $10 billion annually in pocket money to their children, Mozper鈥檚 CFO Israeli told 附近上门 News.

Inspiration for Mozper came from U.S. fintech startups that help build healthy financial habits for children, such as , which raised a $40 million financing round last week led by, and 鈥攚hich Israeli said her children were using鈥攖hat secured a $1.2 billion valuation after closing on $215 million in Series C funding led by and in September.

Mozper is taking some aspects from those companies and adapting them to fit the different banking structure in Latin America and parents鈥� needs. It鈥檚 also trying to reverse a degree of mistrust in the financial system that is more pronounced in the region, Israeli said.

鈥淭here is a cultural barrier to this education and, as a whole, 70 percent of the population in Latin America has not received a formal financial education,鈥� she added. 鈥淪peaking about money is traditionally taboo, but COVID-19 removed a lot of those personal insecurities, and now it is easier to speak about money. We need to help parents create and foster these conversations around money, and we are giving them tips and tools to do this with their kids.鈥�

led the round and was joined by , 听补苍诲 , as well as previous investors and . This latest round brings Mozper鈥檚 total funding to $5.1 million, which includes funding awarded earlier this year and led by Dux, Farrell and Y Combinator.

鈥淲e think that the Latin American market is a blue ocean for fintech innovation,鈥� said , partner at Hetz Ventures, in a written statement. 鈥淲e were extremely impressed by Gabriel, Yael and Pablo鈥檚 ability to execute fast and bring the company’s vision of banking Latam鈥檚 digital-first youth to an early and impressive traction.鈥�

Mozper kicked off a closed beta program in August with 500 families to test out the platform before launching to the public on Nov. 2. Since then, the number of users is growing 20 percent week over week, Israeli said.

She said she is enjoying seeing the user experience so far. Some of the first observations are that many parents are coming into it slowly鈥攎aking a small deposit first, then following up within 24 hours with a bigger deposit. Parents also comment that they are happy to have their children off of their credit cards, she added.

鈥淲e are now looking to improve the product market fit,鈥� Israeli said. 鈥淎 big part is educating the market, and what the value is now that the world has transitioned to a more cashless state. This is something new in Latin America, but it is here to stay.鈥�

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