“It takes an army”: Co-founder of pocket money app Spriggy Alex Badran on growth, getting some perspective, and securing backing from Mike Cannon-Brookes

Pocket money app startup Spriggy has seen a 380% increase in its customer base, quadrupled its headcount, and secured funding from Atlassian co-founder and Australian startup legend Mike Cannon-Brookes — and that’s all in the past 12 months.

Founded in 2015 by Alex Badran and Mario Hasanakos with an initial $300,000 investment, Spriggy provides a mobile app that allows parents to give their children pocket money digitally, by loading cash onto a prepaid card for the children to use.

The app also allows kids to monitor their spending, in a bid to teach them good money management skills.

The startup was named as an emerging fintech star in the KPMG Fintech and H2 Ventures Fintech 100 list even before the app was officially launched in November 2016.

In August last year Spriggy raised $2.5 million in a funding round led by Perle Ventures and Alium Capital, plus other undisclosed investors.

And last month saw another funding round closed, this time backed by Grok Ventures, the investment company of Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. This round also saw a repeat investment from Alium Capital, and again, additional undisclosed high net-worth individuals. Read more

Stephanie Palmer-Derrien - SmartCompany - 3 September 2018