Slash – an online banking platform for the hustle economy – announced recently that it emerged from stealth with $19 million in seed and Series A funding. The seed and Series A funding rounds were led by NEA with additional participation from Menlo Ventures, Connect Ventures, Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Global Founders Capital, with participation from angel investors William Hockey, the founder of Plaid, and Justin Mateen, co-founder and former CMO of Tinder.
Slash co-founders Victor Cardenas and Kevin Bai are college dropouts from Stanford University and The University of Waterloo. And together, they saw an early opportunity to build an online banking solution catered to young, commerce-focused entrepreneurs.
An early iteration of their fintech product provided a way for consumers to create shareable virtual cards to split recurring expenses. And the product became popular overnight among teenage dropshippers on Discord, who turned to Slash since its virtual cards were debit-based, available to users 13 or older, and did not limit spending based on credit history. These teenagers did not use Slash to split expenses like Netflix and Spotify (the product’s intended use case) and instead creatively leveraged it to fulfill more customer orders than they could otherwise.
At that point, the two knew there was a bigger idea to build better financial software for this underserved population, leading Cardenas and Bai to officially launch today’s version of Slash in 2021.
A study from Microsoft showed that almost two-thirds (62%) of the Gen Z population have mentioned wanting to start their own business and 48% have multiple side hustles. And Slash’s fintech model success showcases a shift in the perspectives of young entrepreneurs toward conventional financial institutions. Plus it suggests that strategies for growth, trust-building, and retention that have proven effective in the past may not be equally fruitful in the future.
Slash serves its customers throughout the entire business journey — from inception all the way to scale. Today Slash users span from teenagers under 18 just starting their first side hustle to large e-commerce businesses that spend millions of dollars per month. And Slash customers make money in many ways, including:
— Running paid online communities on Discord and Telegram
— Making and monetizing Roblox games
— Engaging in online arbitrage on Amazon
— Reselling sneakers on StockX, GOAT, and in-person conferences such as GotSole
— Dropshipping
Slash utilizes leading data encryption, firewalls, and server authentication technologies to protect the security of users’ data. And users must be over the age of 13 to sign up, and those under 18 must have a legal guardian participate in account setup. Plus guardians have a specialized view of the user’s account with full control and can track and make changes at any point.
Along with building a world-class banking platform, Slash aims to become a legal and financial one-stop shop to help young entrepreneurs run all aspects of their business, including incorporation, invoicing, automated bookkeeping, and tax management.
Today there are over 20,000 entrepreneurs have opted to bank with Slash.
KEY QUOTES:
“There’s a rapidly growing group of very young entrepreneurs that’s been completely overlooked by traditional financial institutions and every other fintech company. For people with side hustles, having a dedicated business bank account that is separate from their personal one is helpful. However, constantly sending money between accounts at different banks can be a hassle (and can take up to 5 business days). Our product lets you easily create and manage both a personal and business bank account in one place, making it a great choice for self-employed people.”
— Victor Cardenas, co-founder of Slash
“We are excited to support Slash’s mission to create a zero-friction banking experience for the hustle economy. Victor, Kevin, and team have created a unique approach to bridging the gap between personal and business banking. Their focus on serving the needs of the next generation of entrepreneurs is impressive, and we look forward to seeing their continued growth and success.”
— Rick Yang, General Partner and Head of Consumer at NEA
