Edfundo, the world’s first teacher-built money management app for kids and teens, has fast-embraced the intelligence offered by IBM’s Hyper Protect Accelerator Program to enable the fast-build of market-leading security for the Edfundo Money Management App.

“Not only is best-in-class security a prerequisite for our users of the Edfundo platform, but participation in the IBM programme has also received a huge boost of confidence from the fintech sector and investors alike,” says co-founder and CEO Simon Wing.

“Access to IBM’s security capabilities for the Edfundo app build has already delivered an important layer of product trust which is speaking loudly to our banking & card partners, as well as our early-round investors. It’s helping to embed the feel-good factor we want from our multi-generational users, parents and children alike, in this high-risk cyber security age.”

Edfundo is one of 55 global start-ups from 24 counties handpicked by IBM’s accelerator team to enhance cyber security standards, as well as investor readiness with programme partners, Village Capital, the venture capital firm that finds, trains, and invests in early-stage ventures solving major global challenges.

The investor support from the programme is also delivering dividends for the transformative neobanking model, according to Andrew Toward, Edfundo co-founder and COO, Andrew Toward. “The combined expertise of IBM and Village Capital is catapulting our proposition with external investors. It is also helping to scale and build commercial partnerships, such as those already underpinning Edfundo’s market readiness.”

Due for a full roll-out in Q1 2022 and later throughout the wider Middle East, Wing and Toward are now in advanced talks with seed funding investors to close US$1.5million by the end of Q3, following a hugely successful friends & family round attracting $400k, 12.5% over target.

Seasoned educators Wing and Toward have developed the Edfundo app to promote financial literacy and enable smart money management among the digitally aware 8-18 age group. Fully managed by parents using flexible, built-in controls, the app can be used to motivate tweens and teens to save by earning, adding chores for ‘pocket money’ with simple, yet powerful dashboards, allowing parents to track their youngsters’ spending and saving.

“This will be an essential tool for parents who are keen to see their offspring equipped with financial intelligence which will stand them in good stead for the future and see them better prepared to avoid the mental-health pitfalls which can come from poor money management and debt,” said Wing.

“We have to reverse the mistakes of the past and ensure that our youth are able to manage their finances from an early age and in a fashion aligned to a paper-less, cashless, digital, secure economy. It is now even more important with teenagers of 15 and above throughout the UAE, under the new juvenile part-time employment law, able to take on paid work with the written consent of their guardians."

With Edfundo, parents can set spending limits and rules, make automatic allowance payments and transfer money in real-time. “Edfundo offers a safe spending solution and budgeting tools to encourage financial literacy,” added Toward.

Edfundo is currently collaborating with schools throughout the UAE to offer workshops, resources, and educational content to help improve the quality of financial literacy learning.

“It’s estimated that around $50 billion globally is spent by 8–18-year-olds each year, including $1 in every $25 of that is spent in the UAE. Accelerated by the pandemic, financial services have digitised, and we need to educate our new generations much better than we have historically. Edfundo is built to do that, combining practicalities with responsibility,” said Wing.

“Edfundo marries fintech with EdTech in a 21st century solution which can prepare our current children for the global financial challenges of the 2030s and 2040s. Edfundo is not only a neobanking model, but importantly it will evolve into a smart training model,” Wing concluded.