Digital finance assistance app bags $10m Series A investment for 'millennial' generation

Cleo, a digital assistant for people to manage their finances, has secured $10m (around £7m) in investment to further its mission of becoming the ‘global interface’ for money.

Users securely connect their bank accounts to Cleo, giving them a personalised insight into their spending data.

Predominantly millennials, Cleo’s users talk to her in Facebook Messenger, where she creates a daily relationship between them and their money.

Cleo has over 600,000 users, with 94 per cent aged under 35. Designed to help young people save money, Cleo sets targets, tracks spending, puts away savings automatically, and answers questions instantly and intelligently.

The latest $10m of investment funding brings Cleo’s total investment raised to $15m, since being founded in 2016.

The round was led by Balderton Capital, a Series A investor, as well as angels including Niklas Zennstrom, founder of Skype; Taavet Hinrikus; founder of TransferWise and Simon Franks, co-founder of LoveFilm.

Cleo is now set to launch its own range of financial products. CEO Barney Hussey-Yeo pointed out: “From overdraft fees to credit cards, the traditional range of financial products doesn’t work for this generation.

“The model of retail banking is not set up for the people it serves. Cleo’s changing that.”

The company will continue to expand internationally, following a successful launch in North America in April 2018, which saw 350,000 people sign up within four months.

Hussey-Yeo added: “Cleo is designed to solve a global problem. There’s an arms race going on to become the financial interface for this generation. A Google-size company will emerge in the next five years that achieves that.”