- PrizePool recently announced a seed round of funding of $4.25 million led by Accomplice, Bling Capital, Coatue, SciFi VC, and World Innovation Lab, and several others.
PrizePool is a service that makes it more fun to invest in your future where the more money you save, the higher chances you have to win real cash prizes — which adds up to $50,000 every month. The company — which recently launched — also announced a seed round of funding of $4.25 million led by Accomplice, Bling Capital, Coatue, SciFi VC, and World Innovation Lab, and several others.
A lucky monthly winner receives a $25,000 Grand Prize out of the guaranteed PrizePool. All deposits are FDIC insured by Evolve Bank & Trust and there are no fees and no minimums to participate.
Over half of Americans do not have the savings to cover an emergency expense of $1000 and living paycheck-to-paycheck with no reserve for ‘what if.’ But a majority of Americans spend cash on the lottery every week in the hope of a big win.
The actual odds of winning with the lottery and scratch cards are extremely low. But people in the United States spent more than $91 billion on lottery tickets in 2019, according to the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries.
PrizePool’s unique referral program was designed to transform saving money from a solitary act to a shared, social, and even more rewarding experience. And the program lets people save together with friends and family. When a PrizePool user refers a friend, there are shared benefits: they inspire each other to save more, and they increase their chances of winning together.
This funding round will enable PrizePool to invest in product development, drive user acquisition, boost marketing initiatives, and build its team with new hires.
KEY QUOTES:
“Now more than ever, Americans need to be saving money to protect their future. But we know that saving can be hard to prioritize, and our goal is to reduce the barrier to saving money by making it fun in two unique ways. First, we guarantee a total of $50,000 in real cash prizes every month, and second, our referral program makes saving a social activity — so that you can save and win together.” Chien and his co-founder, Joe Woo, sold their first company, LearnSprout, to Apple in 2015.
— Frank Chien, co-founder and CEO of PrizePool
“When I met Frank and Joe, the founders, and saw their track record in tech and education, I knew they were serious about looking to build a business with the goal of getting people to focus on their financial lives in a unique and engaging way. We believe this experience combined with the commitments to both guarantee monthly prizes and create a social, referral model sets PrizePool apart from others in the market.”
— Andy Chen, Partner at Coatue
“We have been big fans of prize-linked savings for a long time, and believe it has the potential to reshape savings habits in America. We’re glad to have found an excellent team to execute on this,”
— Nellie Levchin and Max Levchin, Partners at SciFi VC. Max also is CEO of Affirm and is a co-founder of PayPal
