Why We Invested in Scout
Written by: Julie Chung (Winter 2022 Intern) and Rocio Meza
Chingona Ventures is thrilled to be an early investor in Scout, the investing platform with a mission to make investing fun, relatable, and safe by building personalized portfolios from a set of curated themes aligned with your interests and investment goals. Emerging from its private beta program onboarding thousands of students at more than 17+ college campuses, Scout focuses on bringing portfolio customization and diversification to the college crowd and is now live in the Apple App Store. Recently, the fintech company raised their Seed round led by Chingona Ventures, with participation from BDMI, On Deck, One Team, Reach Capital, Gaingels, Hustle Fund, and alongside several high-profile co-investors such as Phoenix Suns guard and 12-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul. Throughout our partnership, Chingona has seen the growth and traction of this badass brand, and we would like to congratulate Michael, Cindy, and the Scout team for closing their $2.6 Million Seed round!
Chingona Ventures prides itself on investing in emerging, unique fintech companies. Our team has a thesis around consumer fintech, especially in growth markets that are often overlooked. We originally met Scout (formerly known as Elevate) last year. When we met them they only had an idea — a beta prototype app — and a desire to help NCAA athletes in need of financial guidance. We loved that both Michael and the team understood the personal touch needed to engage individuals and teach them about finance. Michael brought on deep knowledge of and connection to the professional sports industry. Being the son of a former NFL player, Michael intimately understands the dynamics athletes face once they play professionally — especially from a financial perspective. Scout evolved from being a FinTech education platform for NCAA athletes to becoming an all-inclusive financial platform for Gen Z and Millenials. Their high-quality video content library helps users nail the financial basics, get control of their credit, and teaches them to spend smarter, thus helping them save more. We are proud of the growth we have seen in just several months, where they only once had a couple of athletes signed up in a handful of colleges and are now reaching colleges coast to coast.
It’s clear there’s an appetite for short-form content in learning about financial literacy. Scout beautifully blends financial literacy with edutainment (educational entertainment). In other words, Scout educates its audience on topics like investing and risk profiles through short-form content that teaches users how to invest their wealth using various tools. We only need to take a look at TikTok to see how engaged its users are; Stock TikTok (StockTok) and Financial TikTok (FinTok) content reaches over 2.1 billion and 835.7 million views, respectively. Additionally, according to the National Financial Educators Council, more than half of young adults surveyed agreed that a money management course would benefit their lives more than other high school courses, yet the market remains fragmented and no dominant players fulfill this need. Enter Scout, who we believe will disrupt the status quo.
Strong networks with professional sports organizations like the NBA and WNBA, as well as with college sports teams across the US, give Scout deep insights into their target market and will ensure the continued development of a consumer-focused product that truly solves the pain points of its customers. With a smart team that understands what college students need to take control of their finances, we are bullish about the strong engagement and community that Scout is able to form as a foundation for future growth.
“Chingona Ventures prioritizes investing in founders from non-traditional backgrounds who bring unique perspectives on a customer base that will give them a competitive edge. Michael’s relentless passion to build Scout into an engine to motivate and mobilize the next generation of responsible investors exemplifies the very type of founder we love to back.” — Samara Mejia Hernandez, Founding Partner of Chingona Ventures
We are proud of what Scout has accomplished to date and look forward to the Company’s next stage. Congratulations again to the entire Scout team and we can’t wait to see where you’ll take your vision. Please feel free to sign up to download Scout today!
