New Greenlight Funding Round Pushes Valuation Past $1.2B

FinTech company Greenlight Financial Technology, which makes products to help parents raise financially literate children, said Thursday (Sept. 24) it raised $215 million in Series C venture funding.

The investment and its associated valuation put the company’s total value in excess of  $1.2 billion, according to a company blog post.

“Greenlight’s rapid growth is a testament to the value they bring to millions of parents and kids every day. My wife and I trust Greenlight to give us the modern tools to teach our children how to manage money,” said Gardiner Garrard, founding partner at TTV Capital, a prior investor that co-led the latest round.

The other Series C leader was Canapi Ventures.

“Greenlight’s purpose-based mission of bringing financial literacy to families is massively impactful.” Neil Underwood, partner and co-founder of Canapi Ventures, added in a prepared statement. “We’re super excited to back this amazing leadership team who is introducing financial services to an entirely new demographic.”

The round also included new investors BOND, DST Global, Goodwater Capital and Fin VC and Greenlight’s first institutional investor, Relay Ventures.

Atlanta-based Greenlight was founded in 2014 and in 2017 issued a debit card — through Community Federal Savings Bank and using a Mastercard International license — that gives parents extensive controls over how children can spend money. For instance, parents can select merchants where kids can spend money.

Families can have up to five cards for children and they include features such as automatic funding of allowances, according to Greenlight’s website.

Greenlight said in Thursday’s announcement that children have saved more than $50 million through their Greenlight accounts.

A series B round just a year ago included JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, among other investors.

Experts say the market for products to increase Americans’ financial literacy is a big one, given the extent of financial illiteracy in the country.