{"id":42452,"date":"2023-10-20T15:21:19","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/this-startup-will-make-you-save-every-time-you-spend-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:21:19","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:21:19","slug":"this-startup-will-make-you-save-every-time-you-spend-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/this-startup-will-make-you-save-every-time-you-spend-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"This startup will make you save every time you spend – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A new Melbourne-based startup wants to help you save money without even thinking about it.<\/p>\n

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WealthNation CEO Jason Kaye says digital piggy banks are revolutionising the way we save and his startup aims to get millions of Australian Gen-Y’s into the habit.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSeventy one per cent of Australia\u2019s 4.2 millennials don\u2019t save any money,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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Kaye, a former ANZ executive with a banking career spanning more than a decade, says the growing distrust of banks and sometimes the complexity of traditional savings methods create barriers that deter everyday people from saving.<\/p>\n

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\u201cUnfortunately, and somewhat embarrassingly for someone who worked in finance at such a high level, even I got some pretty dodgy advice that cost me and my family quite a lot of money,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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To address the problem, Kaye teamed up with former Expensify CFO Tony Zakula from Silicon Valley to create a secure and simple product to grow people\u2019s savings.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWealthNation is a digital piggybank that will give people the ability to save small amounts of money without constant thought, discipline and action,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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It works by rounding off transactions processed on every day credit and debit cards and transferring the change to a savings account.<\/p>\n

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Standing out from the digital piggy bank pack<\/b><\/p>\n

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While there are an increasing number of startups like Sydney-based Snapsave<\/a> and US-based Digit that help people digitally save, Kaye says WealthNation\u2019s automated savings product incorporates a sophisticated interface and features to make saving effortless, simple and quick to get going.<\/p>\n

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One of the features the team is working on will allow WealthNation users to instantly link their bank account by snapping a photo of their driver\u2019s licence.<\/p>\n

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Kaye says WealthNation will be completely free to use and is confident it will stand up to regulators.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe want users to get the full benefit of all their savings and interest,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re dealing with people\u2019s livelihood and security is critical so there\u2019ll be no cutting corners there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Seed funding secured<\/b><\/p>\n

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Kaye and Zakula started working on the idea in early 2015 and by September, they secured $250,000 in seed funding from private, high net-worth individuals.<\/p>\n

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This funding helped them launch a test version of WealthNation in December last year enabling them to develop the product before release this year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re now talking to banks at CEO-level on potential partnerships,\u201d Kaye says.<\/p>\n

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To date feedback has been very positive and Kaye says he is surprised by how fast the user base is growing.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are getting good validation and the product will be available in the first half of this year,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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The fintech scene in Melbourne<\/b><\/p>\n

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WealthNation comes as an exciting development in Melbourne\u2019s startup scene, particularly, as it closes in on Sydney to become Australia\u2019s fintech hub.<\/p>\n

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Kaye says his strong connections stemming from an extensive career in high-level banking and embedded relationships with startups and accelerators gave him a strong base to get WealthNation up and running.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA lot of people helped me get to this point so I\u2019m happy to share my experience and facilitate introductions,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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Follow<\/i> StartupSmart on<\/i> Facebook<\/i>,<\/i> Twitter<\/i>, and<\/i> LinkedIn<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new Melbourne-based startup wants to help you save money without even thinking about it.   WealthNation CEO Jason Kaye<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,25,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42452"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}