Greenlight Raises $54M To Enhance Kid-Friendly Financial Tools

Greenlight, which provides a debit card and app to teach kids about financial education, has closed a $54 million Series B funding round that was led by Drive Capital with participation from JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, with participation by existing investors TTV Capital, Live Oak Bank and Relay Ventures, Greenlight said in a press release on Monday (Sept. 16).

The FinTech startup focuses on helping parents raise financially savvy kids using an app-based debit card that is managed by parents.

“Greenlight has built an incredible platform that makes it convenient and safe for parents and kids to manage their money. We’re proud to support their growth and help them on their mission,” said Chris Olsen, a partner at Drive Capital who has joined the Greenlight board.

The debit card features flexible parental controls. Parents can choose the exact stores where their children can use the debit card, can manage chores and allowances, and can set their own interest rates on money that children save. Kids can monitor their balances and create saving goals while learning to make spending decisions.

More than half a million parents and children have signed up to better manage their everyday family finances.

“At Wells Fargo, financial literacy and helping our clients succeed is part of our core values,” said C. Thomas Richardson, head of strategic partnership investing.

The new funds will be used to add investing and educational layers to the app.

“We’re thrilled to partner with our Series B investors to bring Greenlight to millions of new families and help parents prepare their children for healthy financial futures,” said Greenlight CEO and Co-founder Tim Sheehan.

Allowances are big business in the United States. According to an early 2019 study, 70 percent of U.S. parents report giving their children a weekly allowance averaging $9.06. Considering that there are roughly 75 million people under the age of 18 in the U.S., those figures imply that over a billion dollars in spending money is given to America’s children each month.