Luge Backs Till in $5M Seed Round So Parents can Empower Kids to be Smarter Spenders

We are thrilled to announce our investment in New York-based Till, the first collaborative family-banking platform that empowers kids to not only save and set financial goals, but to become smarter spenders too. Luge Capital participated in the USD $5 million seed round alongside Elysian Park Ventures, Pivotal Ventures with Magnify Ventures (Melinda Gates’ venture fund), Afore Capital, The Gramercy Fund, and Lightspeed Venture Partners (scout fund). Also joining the round were angels with experience in financial inclusion, retail, and education, including the founders of Petal, the founders of Drizly, the president of Transactis, the president of 1800Flowers and a partner at PayPal Ventures. This was Luge’s second investment in Till, which came after we co-led their pre-seed round in 2019.

At Luge, we have a core thesis that banking services catered to kids and teens help set the foundation for a more financially literate population. If I were not a venture investor, this is the business I’d build (but not as well as the Till team).

Why This Matters

According to the 2019 FDIC Survey, the banked population in the US is approximately 95%. Besides stealing customers from other banks or acquiring new immigrants as clients, the youth segment is one of the dominant sources of new customers for large retail banks. However, when most kids open their first account, they go to the same bank as their parents. As a result, these incumbents get those customers for free without having to invest in new products.

Since these legacy banks don’t need to overextend resources to sign on kids as customers, the typical products they offer to young people are subpar. They are usually a reworked version of an adult account and don’t often have a dedicated mobile app companion, configurable oversight by parents, the ability to set financial goals with contributions from grandma or integrations into kid-friendly merchants.

If we’re going to curtail the $1.5 trillion of student debt and the nation’s $975 billion of credit card debt, we need to start building financial products specifically designed for kids to “learn money”. Till is building that future, now.

The Till Solution

Although other kids’ banking products exist, Till is the first truly collaborative platform that brings together the family (and extended family) to help teens understand how money works. Till brings the discussion of money to the forefront, and gives kids the confidence to manage their own finances with oversight from their parents.

When families sign up for the product, the kids, parents, relatives and friends can all participate. Members of this constellation can then support Jimmy’s ambition to buy a new bike, take swimming lessons or save up for college. More importantly, the platform is built so that Jimmy takes control of all his expenses and is the one that pays off his phone bill and dishes out for the new Air Jordans, not mom. When he swipes his card and sees the funds leave his account, he can experience, first-hand, the emotional stress of trading off purchases. That feeling is irreplaceable.

The Till Team

At the helm of this business is Tom Pincince, Taylor Burton, and Brian Chemel. All of them are dads who are driven to see their kids grow up with financial confidence and independence. Tom is a serial entrepreneur who has built hugely successful businesses from scratch. Taylor is a direct-to-consumer genius. He’s part of the PayPal alumni club, and was a member of the exec team at Drizly, which recently sold to Uber for $1.1 billion. Brian is a two-time founder, and is the ideal technology leader to build secure and scalable infrastructure that delivers delightful and engaging user experiences. Above all, the founders are humble, compassionate and care deeply about their customers. They are the dream team.

The Market is Big and the Old Ways Don’t Work

There are about 42 million teens in America. On average, teens in the US spend about $2,150 per year, which represents $90B+ of spending power (Lexington Law). The truth is, as soon as kids are handed a mobile phone, they enter the financial system for the first time. Believe it or not, teens are meaningful actors in the modern day economy, both formally and informally:

• 46.7% of teenagers are employed and earn an income. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• 64% of teens depend on gifts for spending money. (Source: Junior Achievement)
• 32% receive allowances for doing chores. (Source: Junior Achievement)
• 35% of teens earned money by working a part-time job. (Source: Brookings)

For those teens who don’t earn their own income, either mom or dad needs to cough up some cash (the paper kind) or give up a plastic card with a high credit limit. And the cash option is fading because Covid has accelerated its disappearance. These, “I need some money” moments are ad hoc, unstructured and painful. The result is often a teachable moment that goes to waste.

With the launch of their product suite, Till is creating a future where families can be more deliberate about their money, help their kids navigate the complex financial world and ultimately raise smarter spenders. Measure twice, swipe once.

-Karim Gillani, General Partner, Luge Capital

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Till is currently hiring for roles across:

• Marketing
• Development
• Operations

Please apply here: Till Careers Page

About Luge Capital

Luge Capital is a FinTech-focused venture capital fund, investing in early-stage teams shaping the way the world experiences financial services. We invest in fintech and AI solutions applied to financial services and love when entrepreneurs challenge the status quo. We work with dedicated founders who are driven to solve real problems that affect people on a global scale. We are an experienced team of operators with a deep industry network to help leaders build successful companies.