Cleo is a London-based personal finance artificial intelligence company that has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Balderton Capital. Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom, TransferWise founder Taavet Hinrikus, and LoveFilm co-founder Simon Franks also participated in this round.
This brings Cleo’s total funding to $15 million. Cleo has 600,000 users and 94% of them are under age 35, according to EU Startups. Cleo is able to set targets, track spending, answer questions, and put away savings.
“From overdraft fees to credit cards, the traditional range of financial products doesn’t work for this generation. The model of retail banking is not set up for the people it serves. Cleo’s changing that, and is designed to solve a global problem. There’s an arms race going on to become the financial interface for this generation. A Google-size company will emerge in the next five years that achieves that,” said Cleo CEO Barney Hussey-Yeo in a statement.
Cleo expanded to North America from the UK in April 2018 and 350,000 people signed up within four months, Forbes reported.
Users are able to connect their bank accounts to Cleo. This gives them personalized insights into spending data. And Cleo’s users talk to the assistant via Facebook Messenger.
“In the future, people may not use a traditional bank account as their primary financial interface. Cleo has managed to strike the perfect balance between education and entertainment, bringing a unique personality that keeps users coming back,” added Balderton Capital’s Rob Moffat. “We believe that Cleo has the team and product to become the leading global player in the coming years.”
