Acorns, the microinvesting app, has reportedly added Airbnb, the homesharing service, to its rewards program.
According to a report, the rewards program, dubbed “Found Money,” gives Acorns users bonus investment dollars when they use partner services, including Blue Apron, HotelTonight, Jet.com, 1-800-Flowers and now Airbnb. Coming soon, according to the report — Hulu.
The partnership with Airbnb works for both hosts and guests of the the service. Airbnb hosts get $50 invested in their Acorns account when they host their first booking, while guests of Airbnb get 15 percent of the Guest Service Fee put into their Acorns account, granted they book a stay via the Acorns app. The report noted that, in April, Acorns got a big investment from PayPal, which was the majority investor in a $30 million round of fundraising. That brought Acorn’s total funding to $62 million, noted the report. Acorns relies on ETFs and an attractive mobile interface to help people make investment decisions. The app adheres to a basic approach to investing, noted the report.
According to the report, Found Money works similarly to a credit card reward system, but rather than getting cash or rewards points, the rewards are placed directly into the Acorns account in the form of investable money. The rewards program was launched in beta in May with all five of the beta partners inking deals to be part of the full program.
Previously, Acorns Chief Executive Noah Kerner said the rewards program matches with the company’s goal to allow investments to automatically happen in the background of its customers’ lives, the report noted. According to the report, Acorns can monitor purchases on its users’ credit and debit cards and invest the difference.
