To growAn investment app simplifies investing by automatically purchasing shares where users regularly shop regularly has announced on Wednesday that it has obtained a series A financing round of $ 11 million, so that the total amount is collected to around $ 22 million.
In addition to the announcement, Grifin also revealed that it has surpassed 500,000 registered users, indicating that the approach of investing resonates with many users. Grifin also claims approximately 1 million total app downloads and 100,000 monthly active users. The company refused to share its appreciation.
Investment and user growth mark important miles for Grifin, as a result of the trust of investors in the business model of the company and the capacity to disturb traditional investment methods. The stock market can be intimidating for many Americans – allegedly only 62% of our adults Possesses all shares directly.
The new capital will be invested in building the software and UX distribution teams of the company, as well as product development. Remarkable upcoming functions include an AI chatbot that Grifin is working on, as well as family plans designed for parents who want to introduce their young adult children to investments.
Grifin, founded in 2017 by Aaron Froug, Bo Starr and Robin Froug, aims to simplify investing for those who find it intimidating. Initially based on the concept of ‘shares where you shop’, the company evolved in 2024 to an adaptive investment model that automatically invests $ 1 of the transactions of users in shares related to their purchases. For example, if user shops shop at Walmart, $ 1 is invested in Walmart shares. Users can also manually adjust their investment amounts. The model has proved successful, as is apparent from the internal data from Grifin that demonstrate an increase in 234% expenditure at Walmart six months after users have purchased the stock.
Another approach that Grifin needs to simplify investing is by offering educational material that offers users daily insights into financial literacy. The company is planning to expand educational offers and to develop an AI chatbot that can summarize articles on the platform and quickly give answers to questions from users. The chatbot will also provide insights into individual accounts that answer questions, such as: “When did I make this investment?” Or “When did I receive a dividend?”
The timing of the rollout is currently unknown, because Grifin wants to ensure that the chatbot provides accurate answers before the launch.
“Ai can be a great function, but it sometimes can’t give the right things,” Froug, CEO of Grifin, told Techcrunch. “So we just make sure we make the i’s and cross the Ts before we launch something like that.”
The educational offers are especially important because of the user base of Grifin. Many of his users are women between their late 40s and 60s, a group that traditionally has less confidence in their investment knowledge. There are also younger female users aged 18 to 24, which could be why Grifin is considering adding budgeting tools that give users insight into their expenses.
One of the most requested functions is family plans, so that users can share their Grifin accounts with family members and introduce investments to younger users. Many younger generations hesitate to invest in the stock market. Although the market has improved in recent months, risks are still involved.
“One of the cool things that we also want to do with family plans is [allow] Parents or grandparents to finance the bills for children or the grandchildren, so there is not too much financial stress, “Froug added.
The round was led by NAVA Ventures with the participation of Alloy Labs, Draper Associates, Gaingels, Nevcaut Ventures and TTV Capital. In addition to financing, Freddie Martignetti, partner at NAVA Ventures, joined Grifin’s Board.
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