Alvin, a Kenyan money manager app, has raised $740k in pre-seed funding
Alvin, a Kenyan startup that helps people align their daily spending around savings goals, has raised a US$740,000 pre-seed funding round as it continues to hone its product, which is currently in private beta.
Alvin, which was founded in May of last year, is a smart money manager app that uses automated budgeting, personalized offers, and behavioral game design strategies to help people align their daily spending around their savings goals in a sustainable manner.
The startup intentionally soft-launched its flagship product, the Alvin App v1 Labrador private beta, while it made changes ahead of a formal launch, and ended last year by closing an oversubscribed US$740,000 pre-seed funding round.
Ingressive Capital led the round, which also included Zephyr Acorn, Voltron Capital, Future Africa, and Tahseen Consulting. Paystack CEO Shola Akinlade and Tony Nicalo, the former CEO of marketing firm Dondé, were among the other notable investors in the round. It also includes $100,000 from Forum Ventures, a US-based B2B SaaS-focused accelerator program, after Alvin was chosen to participate in its W22 batch, which begins this month, as well as participation from a few additional American and Kenyan angels.
Winston Reid, CEO of Alvin, told Disrupt Africa that he and his co-founders founded the company to solve a problem that they and their peers encountered on a regular basis.
“The only personal finance apps we could find in Kenya were not optimized for the local context, provided no guidance to help us acquire the assets we wanted to save toward, and only provided the ability to save but no daily support to help us save for goals that require consistency over long periods of time,” he said.
“In order for anyone to develop long-term saving habits, they must first develop long-term spending habits.” And doing so necessitates providing people with more assistance than just deposit reminders.”
“Labrador,” the first version of the Alvin app, is currently in private beta. It includes automated M-Pesa expense tracking as well as the ability to create a budget in two minutes, displaying how much users can spend on things like groceries, entertainment, and rent each month based on their income and most important savings goal.
“Next, we’ll add card transaction tracking for Kenyan banks, as well as the ability to contribute to a high-yield savings account without leaving the Alvin app.” “Ultimately, Alvin is intended to be your daily pocket companion, making it dead simple to feel like you’re in control of your financial situation, and that every day you’re on a clear path toward buying that plot of land, or that house,” Reid said.
The Alvin app will be available to the public in Kenya in the coming months, but the startup already has global ambitions.
“We have immediate plans to expand to Nigeria in the latter half of 2022, with powerhouses Ingressive Capital, Shola Akinlade, Voltron Capital, and Future Africa onboard,” Reid said.