Venture leader Fintech uses gamification to promote financial literacy – Venturelab

Our expert jury recently selected ten startups for the Venture Leaders Fintech 2022 program, whose founders will join the Swiss startup team. In anticipation of the Venture Leaders roadshow in London at the end of November, we would like to introduce our community to each of the Venture Leaders Fintech 2022. Meet David Giron, CEO of Money Masters.

Name: David Giron
Placement: Geneva, Switzerland
Nationality: Guatemala and Spain
Graduated from: Western Carolina University in 2015 with a degree in Business & Marketing
Job title: CEO
Number of employees: 5
Money raised: CHF 2.5 million
First point of contact with Venturelab: Venture Leaders Fintech in 2022

What does your startup do and why?
Money Masters makes learning about money fun and easy. By utilizing technology, we have created a gamified and interactive learning experience so that everyone can access financial education.

 

“We are on a mission to make financial education accessible to all.”

How and where did you come up with the idea for your startup?
When I started working in the financial industry, I realized that although many of my friends were well educated, most of them had little or no idea about finance. After many failed attempts to help my friends, I realized that there was a need to make financial education easier. I studied some of the leading EdTech platforms, such as Duolingo, and thought to myself, “Why can’t we do the same for finance?”. This is where I started my journey with Money Masters.

What do you expect from the Venture Leaders roadshow and how do you think it will help you realize your vision?
We are on a mission to make financial education accessible to all. Doing it alone can be quite complicated. That is why we want to continue to expand our network of partners, be it financial institutions, NGOs or even educational institutions. Therefore this is a great opportunity for us, it will help us with our visibility and gathering feedback. We are currently raising funds, so it is very beneficial for us to have the opportunity to meet potential investors.

Who helps your application and how?
Currently, most of our users are Millennials and older Gen Zs who want to learn about finance in a fun and easy way. From user feedback, we’ve learned that most young professionals start looking for financial education tools as they enter the workforce. After university, most people realize their lack of financial knowledge and simply do not know who to ask or trust. They feel that most financial content online is from financial institutions trying to sell something. Given that Money Masters is a purely educational platform, gives them comfort.

What are you most looking forward to at work right now?
When we started this journey, my idea was to become the “Duolingo of Finance”; but our early success has made us realize that we don’t have to do this alone. Most financial institutions want to provide financial education but have not succeeded. For this reason, we have been contacted by several institutions to collaborate through a white-label solution. In January, we will launch our first white-label partnership with a large asset manager from Spain. We are very excited to see the results. In addition, it is exciting to see our customer acquisition cost (CAC) go below CHF 1. When we went live with our beta nine months ago, the CAC was CHF 15. It has been an impressive run.

How did you build your team?
I think our team is the strongest part of our project. Today, we have over eight different nationalities with different professional backgrounds. The team started small, with just the CTO and me. We then started working with an academic board made up of three professionals in finance and education. Once the financial education roadmap was defined, we began working with our network of content creators and developers to build the platform. Now we have five key team members: CTO, Product Owner, Digital Product Manager, Head of Marketing and our COO, Victor Novoselov.

Which market are you targeting and what is the potential of your startup?
We focus our efforts on the US, but have seen significant progress in the EU. In the US alone, over 100 million people are considered financially illiterate. Between Gen Z and Millennials, there are over 45 million who lack the most basic understanding of finances. We are also starting to get hold of the financial institutions. In the United States, there are over 5,000 credit unions and over 2,000 community banks that invest in financial education tools.

What are your most important achievements so far?
There are a few: first, our incubation at Fongit, one of the leading incubators in Switzerland; second, to be one of the top five fintech startups selected to pitch at SICTIC Fintech Day in Zurich; and thirdly, our selection for the Swissnex program in San Francisco, where we got to meet potential partners and investors. On the business side, we’re proud to have reached over 30,000 users, lowering customer acquisition cost from $20 to $1 in just nine months, while achieving 13% monthly active users in October and teaming up with our first white-label partner , a fund worth 7 billion euros from Spain.

 

“There’s no playbook for being a founder. Mistakes will happen, and there’s no perfect way to overcome them. You just have to make the decisions you think are best for your situation.”

What is one thing not many people know about you?
I was born in Guatemala, and moved alone to the United States at the age of 16, to chase my dream of playing American football. I ended up receiving a scholarship to a Division I school and played in front of 100,000 people in Alabama. I then went on to play professionally overseas for several years. American football does not exist in Guatemala.

What is your favorite podcast and why?
Wall Street Lab. This is actually a friend’s podcast and has been recognized as a top 10 finance podcast in Europe. It’s a great way to learn from highly successful financiers and gain insight into their lives. They have had amazing guests like Monish Pabrai and Howard Marks. I’m a bit of a finance geek.

What is your favorite book and why?
The intelligent investor by Benjamin Graham. Although it is a very dry book, this book changed my life. When I started my career in finance, I read this book and did not understand what I was reading. It took me several tries to fully understand it. I have been practicing its teachings ever since. It’s also part of the reason I wanted to make Money Masters.

Who inspires you and why?
My father. My father comes from a very humble background but he always strived for a better future. Through hard work, he was able to give me and my family an opportunity. He pushed me to believe in myself and without him I don’t know where I would be.

Which startup do you wish you had founded and why?
Duolingo. This is a company that showed the world that you can build a profitable business while doing something good for the world. Today you can learn a language for free, no matter who you are or where you come from. This gives people opportunities for a better future.

What is the most challenging thing about being an entrepreneur?
There is no playbook for being a founder. Mistakes will happen and there is no perfect way to overcome them. You just need to make the decisions you think are best for your situation.

The Venture Leaders Fintech 2022 roadshow in London is organized by Venturelab in collaboration with Swissnex and supported by EPFL, ETH Zürich and Walder Wyss.

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