gohenry raises $40m growth capital for US expansion

By Sunniva Kolostyak

gohenry, the financial app for children between 6 and 18, has raised $40 million in growth capital to accelerate expansion and boost financial education for families in the US and UK.

The funding round was led by US growth-equity firm Edison Partners, followed by Gaia Capital Partners, Citi Ventures and Muse Capital.

The FinTech, which offers a prepaid card and money management application to children and a separate application for parents, has also reached 1.2 million members, doubling its customer base year-on-year.

Commenting, Alex Zivoder, CEO of gohenry, said 2020 has been a milestone year, as it has also reached profitability and partnered with leading funds, which will help drive innovation and expansion.

“For too long, kids have been locked out of the digital economy and parents lacked the tools to help their children gain confidence with money and finances. gohenry was the first to respond to these needs in 2012 when we launched a groundbreaking financial education app and prepaid debit card that truly empowered children,” he commented.

Chris Sugden, Managing Partner at Edison Partners, will join the gohenry board of directors along with Dawn Zier, an accomplished CEO and marketing expert, best-known for engineering the transformation and growth of Nutrisystem, Inc, as a publicly traded company in the US.

Sugden, who also commented on the investment, said: “We’re thrilled to partner with Alex and the gohenry management team on this next milestone in their growth journey and look forward to realising their ambitions to improve the financial fitness of kids across the globe.”

Through the gohenry app, U.K. parents provided £98 million in pocket money in 2019, and their children were paid more than £2.2 million for completing tasks around the house. In the same year, gohenry’s young customers directly contributed just under £100 million to the UK economy, with children donating more than £53,000 to gohenry’s UK charity partner, the NSPCC.