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Qapital Secures $30M in New FinancingNEW YORK and STOCKHOLM, April 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Qapital, a new way to bank designed around people's goals, announced today that it has secured $30M in new financing. The financing was anchored by top Nordic tech investors, Swedbank Robur, Norron, SEB Stiftelsen, and Athanase with participation from Northzone, among a handful of others. First launched in the U.S. in 2015, Qapital was designed by a team of engineers, data scientists, designers, behavioral economics gurus, and finance experts to help people save and spend in ways that make them happier. Behavioral economics studies the psychological, social, and emotional drivers that lead us to the choices we make; Qapital uses those insights to change users' behavior and make managing money easy and fun. Qapital's functionality and design have been built in partnership with its renowned Chief Behavioral Economist and board member, Dan Ariely, James B. Duke professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University, and New York Times best-selling author of several books, including Predictably Irrational and Dollars and Sense. "Qapital was first born out of our own experiences with personal banking. We wanted to build something that made people's lives easier and that helped them feel happier and more empowered with their money," said George Friedman, co-founder and CEO of Qapital. "Since those early days we've been fortunate to have helped hundreds of thousands of people think about banking in a different way – and to experience feelings like joy, delight, hope and optimism around their money. Today's financing will help us continue to bring these kinds of experiences to our users." Qapital uses a "Rules" and "Goals" approach to personal banking. Users decide on their Goals – whether they are short-term Savings Goals, like a trip to Hawaii in 2018; long-term Savings Goals, like saving for a dream home; or Spending Goals, such as a taget budget for discretionary expenses like coffee or restaurants. Users then decide on Rules for these Goals that are automated, for example, "Every time I swipe my Qapital Visa Debit Card or my credit card, put $2 in my Hawaii account." The Goals can be funded through Qapital's Spending Account (essentially a checking account) or by linking an external funding source. "Building personal banking products that people love is hard, and traditional banks to date haven't done enough to inspire and engage their customers," said Pär Jörgen Pärson, Chairman of the Qapital Board and General Partner of Northzone. "Qapital understands that by building a great product that is easy to use and winning our customers' trust, we will inspire happiness and empower people to meet their goals." Every Qapital feature is designed to help people feel happier about, and more in control of, their money. Qapital uses behavioral economics to design its product to help people achieve real, positive change in their financial behavior. For example, if a user sets a picture to a goal, they are twice as likely to achieve it. To date, over 420,000 people have saved nearly $500 million using Qapital. The Qapital app includes Qapital Savings for short-term savings goals, and Qapital Spending, which is a checking account that works with the Qapital Visa Debit Card and is overlaid with budgeting tools like the Qapital Weekly Spending Target. Qapital Invest, a robo investment product, will be added to the Qapital experience soon for long-term savings goals. About Qapital About Swedbank Robur Fonder AB About Norron Asset Management About SEB Stiftelsen About Athanase Industrial Partners About Northzone View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/qapital-secures-30m-in-new-financing-300633016.html SOURCE Qapital |