Ex-CTO of Gemini launches Fierce, a super-app for high-yield finance • TechCrunch

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Managing your finances can be difficult, especially if you want to try something new like investing or even taking out a mortgage for the first time.

Meet Fierce, a new company that wants to change that. It’s developing a finance super app that brings together what founder and CEO Robert Cornish calls “the best fintech for the customer.”

“Five years ago, you couldn’t really do this,” Cornish told TechCrunch. “You had to build everything yourself. That’s why you see a lot of platforms that start with one thing and then try to be a super app. We built Fierce to bring in those products, make them really easy for customers to use, and then leverage the power of them all in one place.”

Fierce’s offerings include the Fierce Cash account, an FDIC-insured checking account with an annual percentage return of up to 4.25%, and a debit card with access to over 55,000 fee-free ATMs. The app is currently available for iOS and will launch on Android later this year.

There are no monthly fees or limits, and the company also offers 24/7 support, educational resources, market insights, analytics and the ability to link other existing financial accounts within the app.

There is also share trading where users can buy fractional shares and ETFs. Users also have an opportunity to profit from their existing stock holdings through a fully paid securities lending program where they earn income by lending out their stocks.

Fierce pulls in revenue from the investment side and also on the assets under management, Cornish said.

Cornish, a software developer by trade, started the New York-based company in 2021 after a career that included chief information officer for the New York Stock Exchange and chief technology officer for Gemini Trust Co. He said one of the things that stuck with him about working in cryptocurrency was “the power of the customer.”

“If you do a good job with the product build, it really creates that relationship,” he added. “That was the basis when we started looking at Fierce: to take some of the principles we learned in crypto and bring them back to traditional finance.”

Fierce also has a good amount of capital to help it grow. It raised $10 million in seed funding from a group of angel investors and investors including Pendrell, AP Capital, Wheelhouse Digital Studios and Space Whale Capital.

With the new funds, the company intends to expand the team of 18, acquire more customers and work on product development. Cornish also looks at other benefits, including insurance, personal loans and mortgages.

Coming later this year is the Fierce Rewards credit card, which will offer 1.5% cash back on all spending. Any interest and rewards will automatically be redeemed in the user’s portfolio. There will also be regulated crypto trading.

“We have a very aggressive application that we’re building, and the funding enables us to do that,” Cornish said. “Crypto is coming, and obviously that’s an area that we’re very focused around and that we want to take a long-term approach.”