Spriggy

About Spriggy

Spriggy operates in the Australian fintech market, offering a financial education tool for families. The company was established in 2016 by Mario Hasanakos and Alex Badran, who leveraged their backgrounds in banking and education to address the gap in financial literacy for children in an increasingly cashless society. The founders, both former derivatives traders at Citibank, were motivated by the belief that financial institutions could do more to help people, especially with the rise of digital money.

The core of Spriggy's business is a subscription-based service for families. For an annual fee per child, the company provides a prepaid Visa card and a companion mobile application designed for children aged 6 to 17. This model generates revenue directly from its users, positioning Spriggy as an independent educational technology company rather than a bank. The financial products, including the parent wallet and prepaid card, are issued through a partnership with Indue Ltd, an Authorised Deposit-taking Institution (ADI).

The Spriggy platform is designed with a dual-interface for both parents and children. Parents can transfer money, set up automatic pocket money payments, create paid chores, and monitor all transactions in real-time. They also have the ability to lock the child's card instantly if it gets lost. For children, the app provides a hands-on learning experience in money management. They can track their spending, set savings goals, and see the direct impact of their financial decisions. The prepaid Visa card allows for both online and in-store purchases wherever Visa is accepted, but it includes merchant restrictions to block spending at age-inappropriate places like liquor stores. The card has no overdraft facility, meaning kids can only spend the funds available on the card, preventing debt.

Significant milestones for Spriggy include securing a $2.5 million funding round in 2017, a $12 million Series A in 2019 led by Grok Ventures, and a $35 million Series B in 2021 led by NAB Ventures. These funding rounds have enabled the company to expand its team and enhance its product offerings, which now include Spriggy Schools for managing school-related payments and Spriggy Invest for teaching kids about investing.