After finalizing the deal with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Fusion Acquisition Corp. this week, MoneyLion is now publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ML.

For additional insight into this milestone, we spoke with MoneyLion CEO and Co-Founder Dee Choubey. Prior to co-founding MoneyLion in 2013, Choubey spent over a decade on Wall Street inside the largest banks learning about the inefficiencies that exist within banking. He built MoneyLion to create a private banking experience for everyday Americans by offering credit, banking, and investing in a single app.

Talk to us about MoneyLion’s journey so far. What has growth been like since the company was founded in 2013?

Dee Choubey: We founded MoneyLion with the goal of rewiring the consumer finance system, giving hardworking Americans access to previously exclusive private banking services. At MoneyLion, we bring consumer finance into the future by combining AI, machine-learning technology, and behavioral science to create a full-service, digital financial platform for our users. Since 2013, we have engaged with over 8.5 million Americans, empowering them with a digital banking platform that helps them better manage their finances today and build wealth for tomorrow.

This has been a historic year for the company. Since announcing we were going public via a SPAC in February, to listing on the NYSE on September 23rd, we’ve continued to see consistent growth and a validation of our business plan. Entering the public markets will enable us to scale our capabilities and reach even more hardworking Americans. Since the start of 2021, we’re up across all key financial and operating metrics, including 100%+ year over year growth in net revenue. Our user growth has also accelerated this year, with total customers increasing almost 60% in the first half of 2021 to 2.3 million.

Earlier this month, we raised our annual revenue guidance for fiscal years 2021, 2022, and 2023 to reflect higher projected user growth, along with expected revenue contribution of planned product launches including our new crypto and Buy Now Pay Later offerings. As a public company, we will remain laser focused on positioning ourselves for optimal execution on our well-defined growth objectives.

How did you know that a SPAC was right for MoneyLion?

Choubey: For us, we’d spent the last eight years focusing on building proprietary technology. As we saw the product market fit of MoneyLion accelerating, we knew it was time to take MoneyLion’s innovative products to more Americans, and a SPAC provided us with an entry point to enhance our public presence as well as capitalize the business. As with everything we do at MoneyLion, it ties back to our mission: to provide top-notch financial access and bespoke advice to every hardworking American.

Listing via a SPAC was the best option for us due to its efficiency in allowing us to strengthen our balance sheet. With the capital we raised through this transaction, we are now able to accelerate the execution of our growth strategy, deliver against our mission, and provide incredible value to our customers and members.

What has been the hardest part of the SPAC process?

Choubey: If anything, our biggest challenge was timing. We announced the merger with Fusion Acquisition Corp in late February, expecting to be public somewhere in June or July. It took longer than anticipated to get through the whole process, in part due to the number of deals coming to the market.

With the merger behind us and our balance sheet fortified, we’re all very excited about this next chapter in the MoneyLion journey. For the past eight years we have been focused on building our proprietary tech stack, and we think we have one of the best platforms, not only here in the United States, but globally. We’re poised to build on that strong foundation and make MoneyLion a daily destination for all hard working Americans, combining our robust financial products and services with highly personalized content and advice to help our customers take control of their finances and achieve their life goals.

What advice would you offer other fintechs considering the SPAC route?

Choubey: Find the right partner with whom to go public. And that usually entails the sponsor’s knowledge of its investor base, their willingness to do whatever it takes to accurately position the company, as well as a specific understanding of the capital markets including the pipe market. At the end of the day, the fintech needs to have public market fit and a good sponsor can help create an efficient framework.

Will anything about MoneyLion change now that the acquisition is finalized?

Choubey: We’re no longer trading under FUSE; we’ve officially taken over the ML ticker on the New York Stock Exchange. For those that remember, ML was Merrill Lynch’s ticker, an iconic American financial institution. Today, we are immensely proud to have that ticker as we grow into our own iconic American brand. As we like to say, the ‘bull has become the lion’.

In terms of what’s happening within MoneyLion, we are going to continue to work hard and deliver against our mission: harnessing the power of technology to empower millions of hardworking Americans to take control of their finances so that they can achieve their life goals.

Photo by Corentin Marzin on Unsplash

Providing services for Generation Z is increasingly on the minds of both banks and fintechs alike.

One such fintech, EarlyBird, is making it easy for a child’s community to invest in their future. We spoke with the company’s CEO Jordan Wexler on the current childhood investing environment and what it takes to compete.

Talk to us about the current state of financial literacy in the U.S.

Jordan Wexler: The numbers tell us that most American families aren’t doing a great job at teaching financial literacy. According to a recent survey, 19% of Americans reported that their household spent more than their income over the past year. Add in the fact that 43% of adults say they haven’t got a rainy day fund, and that means huge chunks of our society simply aren’t prepared to face financial hurdles. This shows that good financial habits and knowledge aren’t being effectively passed down either.

Research suggests there isn’t much time to sow the seeds of financial literacy into a kid’s headspace. Children generally have their financial habits set by the age of seven. That means to set kids up for financial independence, they have to be taught the basics of financial literacy sooner rather than later. Not only will you instill good habits early, but you’ll also be setting them up to make smart investment and financial choices throughout their lives.

Most wealthtech tools target high net worth individuals. What benefits are there to having a young client base that typically has no income?

Wexler: The benefit of helping the youth is that we’re trying to set them up for financial success in the future. We aren’t encouraging spending – we’re instilling good financial habits early on that will help kids flourish in their adult lives.

With EarlyBird, our vision is to have parents start investing in their children from day one. That way, in 18 years, they will have a solid financial foundation for their child to give them the freedom to pursue their aspirations – traveling the world, going to college, starting a business, whatever it may be.

EarlyBird was built for more than the children with their name on the custodial account. It’s for parents, family, and friends that want to give meaningful and purposeful gifts to the children in their lives to help support them financially. We’re making it accessible to all because it doesn’t matter which household income bracket a family falls under, investing just a little bit each month for your child can go a long way.

What elements do you use to cater EarlyBird to such a young audience?

Wexler: We’re catering EarlyBird to parents, their children, and also the community around them that wants to see them succeed. For parents, we’ve simplified the process to kickstart their child’s future by opening a custodial investment account. It doesn’t matter if the parent is a beginner, novice, or expert in investing in the stock market, we’re allowing families to gift meaningful and sustainable financial contributions for all life’s milestones.

For children, we’re creating a platform that allows them to learn about finances. They can better understand investing/saving, watch their money grow, and then one day have a bank account with accumulated funds to use as they please. Our hope is that from being a lifelong EarlyBird user, they’ll know how to manage those assets responsibly.

We’ve also created a great user experience for the ‘givers.’ They are able to record a video memory with their contribution and can use it as an opportunity to pass down stories and knowledge from the world of money. Video memories are placed into an archive on the EarlyBird app for the children to look back on and learn from forever.

EarlyBird was founded in 2019. How have you seen the childhood financial services space grow since then?

Wexler: Being in the weeds in the childhood financial services space, it’s apparent that there’s been massive growth and that it’s on an upward trajectory, especially with latest funding news from services like Greenlight, Current, Step, and Till Financial.

One thing we are noticing right now is that “kids” and “children” are being somewhat generalized into one category of fintech. The reality is – there are different offerings in the space that make sense for different ages and parental comfort levels. I feel that we’re at the point where parents need to start to consider their “ideal mix” when it comes to the fintech tools and apps they use to save for their children, teach them financial literacy, and also get them started with spending when it’s time.

For example, parents can get started with EarlyBird when their child is born and then later on incorporate an app with teen-focused debit card to begin digital banking. This is similar to the “old school” trajectory of starting off with a 529 account then adding a standard savings account and later a checking account.

It’s great to see so much growth, innovation, and potential happening in childhood financial services. We’re beyond excited to be a part of this movement and to set the next generation up for financial freedom!

Photo by Katerina Holmes from Pexels