Fintech firm raises $10 million in Series A round

Onward Solutions Inc., a Marina del Rey-based fintech developer of co-parenting software, has raised $9.7 million in Series A funding. The company plans to strengthen its presence in Los Angeles, as well as expand its product portfolio.

Onward Solutions officials said the firm is dedicated to helping the roughly 50 million co-parents in the U.S. “who rely on messy text messages and email spreadsheets to keep track of shared expenses for their children,” which can cause frustration for everyone involved parties.

Onward said their software significantly reduces communication friction for co-parents by making it immediately clear what one party owes the other for any expenses incurred. The app allows parties to record and track shared spending histories that can be easily exported.

In its fundraising announcement on October 27, the company said the Series A funding comes on the heels of a significant period of growth, with nearly 100,000 app installs from co-parents.
Jacklyn Adele Rome, CEO and founder of Onward, said in an accompanying statement that the fundraising signals Onward’s strong grasp of a growing niche market in need of specific and tailored fintech.

Roma said that financial disputes can destroy the most amicable relationships, something she experienced firsthand after her own parents’ divorce when she was 14 years old. Roma launched Onward in 2020, after successful management jobs for product launches at Uber Technologies Inc. and Blue Apron Inc., among others.

“We are very pleased and grateful to continue to have the support of our investors as we aim to address a significant and unaddressed need for millions of co-parents across this country,” Roma said in a statement. “We are determined to continue building products that reduce friction in their lives and provide social impact by enabling them to better parent the next generation.” The company recently hired talent from fintech companies including PayPal, Stash, Acorns and Intuit as part of its growth.

The Series A funding round was led by Atlanta-based TTV Capital. Companies including New York-based firms Lerer Hippeau and Citi Ventures and Bay Area firms Correlation Ventures and Gingerbread Capital participated in the funding round.

“We always look for three things when we decide to make an investment: founder, vision and opportunity. Onward checks all those boxes and more,” Mark Johnson, partner at TTV Capital, said in the announcement on October 27. “Jacklyn and the team hers has dug into the co-parenting experience to design an intuitive product. We are confident that this infusion of new capital will enable Onward to build even more solutions that benefit co-parents everywhere.”

Luis Valdich, Managing Director of Venture Investing at Citi Ventures, said Citi was impressed by Onward’s strategy to address a massive gap in the market “head-on and with thoughtful, people-centric financial services.

“We are excited to continue to support Onward’s growth trajectory as it enables co-parents to streamline financial discussions and focus on what matters most: their families,” Valdich said in a statement.