Teen financial literacy app Wingocard shuts down
Wingocard, a mobile banking app designed to connect teens to the mobile, cashless economy and strengthen financial literacy skills, is set to close its doors on 18 May.
Wingocard closes its doors
The Montreal-based fintech was founded in January 2020 and launched in May 2021, raising a total of $3 million across two seed funding rounds, including a $1.7 million round last May led by Panache Ventures.
In a statement on its website, the company says: “We are extremely proud of what our small team has achieved in so little time. Over that period we had the privilege to interact with thousands of teens and parents to better understand their needs.
“Unfortunately, it’s with great sadness we inform you that we will not be able to continue this journey.”
In a note on Twitter, Wingocard co-founder, CTO and VP product and engineering Salvatore D’Agostino writes: “Towards the end of 2021, Wingocard was looking for interested investors to keep us going on our mission. Unfortunately, we were unable to close a round of funding.”
He adds the company is “working hard to find a home for all our amazing team”.
Wingocard was designed to help make teens more financially independent, and allowed users to request money from parents, manage their finances in-app and make purchases with their Wingocard Visa debit card.
At launch, Wingocard had more than 75,000 teens on its waitlist and claimed more than 65% of teens who registered went on to share the app with their friends.
The company was a participant in Visa’s Fintech Fast Track programme, a sandbox that supports digital payment innovation by simplifying the collaboration process with Visa in order to develop and launch new fintech products. Other participants in the programme include credit card solutions fintech Deserve and LGBTQ+ challenger Daylight.
