Berlin-based fintech startup Forget Finance has closed €3.5 million to motivate young people to save and invest using an online coaching mix of AI bot and real financial experts. The round is spearheaded by the VCs btov and UVC Partners.
Digitalization has revolutionized personalized advice. AI is now standard in setting up recommendations and giving insights, however, its use in finance has lagged behind compared to other sectors. Founded in 2020 by Konradin Breyer and Jurek Herwig, Forget Finance want to change this, using tech to better inform a younger generation on how to manage their finances. In December 2021, the startup launched a personalized and empathetic financial coaching app for saving and investing, developed in collaboration with 10,000 millennials.
For millennials across the world, finance is increasingly overwhelming. Stuck in an age with skyrocketing living costs, and wages that just don’t keep up, alongside fast-moving tech developments bringing about the world of crypto and blockchain – it’s no surprise that lots of us are left feeling overwhelmed with the finance space.
WIth Forger Finance, millennials can plan their financial goals using an app and invest without any prior knowledge, whilst automating their finances for the long term. Making everything simple.
Konradin Breyer, Co-founder & CEO commented: “In our first phase of business, we showed how the financial advice of tomorrow will look. In the second, we are building the digital bank of the future which offers individual guidance, simplifies, and automates our users’ entire financial lives. We are very pleased to have btov and UVC Partners on board as key investors on our mission.”
Users have direct access to a new type of hybrid financial advice: the AI bot, Coin, is available to them 24/7, providing personalized insights into their financial plans via the app. Anyone who would like additional advice from human experts can use a WhatsApp chat to discuss their individual situation with Forget’s own financial coaches. Forget’s goal is to motivate those people who have little interest in financial topics and who are overwhelmed by the massive growth in financial content on the Internet to start saving and investing. In keeping with the trend towards maximum convenience, the Forget app simplifies the user’s entire financial life through smart automation and integration of their existing bank account.
Following the development of the product last year in collaboration with 10,000 Millennials, Forget was able to engage several thousand people to start using the app as soon as it was launched in early 2022.
The new capital will be used to kickstart expansion plans, that will see Forget Finance become a holistic all-in-one platform for personal finance over the next five years. This year, in addition to the already existing sustainable wealth management, other financial products such as insurance, crypto, and donations will be integrated into the app’s hybrid coaching layer. The team that currently comprises 10 people will triple over the next 12 months.
This fresh funding boost, spearheaded by btov and UVC Partners, also included participation from Nino Ulsamer, founder of StashAway, TA Ventures, the two Orderbird founders Jacob Schreyer and Artur Hasselbach, along with the family office of entrepreneur Vincent Bodo Andrin (ZEITGEIST Tech Ventures).
Even before the app was launched, the team managed to attract important figures on the startup scene at the pre-seed financing stage, including Hanno Renner (Personio) and Patrick Andrä (HomeToGo). Investing again in the seed round were, among others, HW Capital, the investment company of interhyp founders Marcus Wolsdorf and Robert Haselsteiner, as well as company founders Florian Brokamp (Thinksurance) and Reiner Mauch (Cortal Consors).
Luca Martinelli, Partner at btov Partners stated: “The two founders of Forget impressed us immediately with their vision of adapting financial advice and personal banking to the needs of a digitally savvy generation. Although stock investing with Trade Republic and Co. has reached mobile phones, many young people lack financial education and guidance. This is where Forget Finance, with the first personalized financial platform to fit the lifestyle of young people, comes in.”
