Grifin, a U.S.-based financial technology startup, has closed $11 million in its Series A funding round. This milestone raises its total funding to around $22 million since the New Orleans based company was founded. Founded in 2017 by Aaron Froug, Bo Starr, and Robin Froug, Grifin aims to demystify investing for users who find traditional investment approaches intimidating.
Having approached one million total app downloads and 100,000 monthly active users, Grifin broke the 500,000 registered user mark. The firm turbocharged the “Stock Where You Shop” model. Now, consumers can directly vote by investing in the stocks tied to their own consumerism! In 2024, Grifin pivoted again, this time with a unique adaptive investing model. Now, it passively invests $1 from every user’s transaction into the companies they care about.
Grifin’s internal data indicates that consumer behavior has shifted quite significantly. Once users purchased its stock, spending at Walmart increased by a whopping 234% in the first six months. This discovery underlines the success of Grifin’s model in attracting both investment and consumer discretionary spending.
The collaborative funding will help accelerate Grifin’s software engineering and user experience design teams. It will further accelerate product development. In the future, the startup is considering adding budgeting features to help users understand how different life choices are impacting their spending.
“AI can be an amazing feature, but it can also sometimes not give the correct things,” said Aaron Froug.
Grifin plans to launch family plans that would allow users to share their accounts with family members, thereby offering financial support options for younger generations.
“One of the cool things that we want to do with family plans as well is [allow] parents or grandparents to help fund the accounts for kids or the grandkids, so there isn’t too much financial stress,” Froug added.
Nava Ventures, a San Francisco-based firm specializing in health sector innovation, led the Series A round. Alloy Labs, Draper Associates, Gaingels, Nevcaut Ventures, and TTV Capital also joined. This investment reflects a growing recognition of Grifin’s innovative approach to making investing accessible and less intimidating for a diverse user base.
Grifin is focused on improving user experience and engagement. It continues to be committed to delivering quality educational content that increases its users’ financial literacy. Grifin cuts the complexity out of the investing process with unique features that help you budget better and support your family’s future. This strategy will further cultivate its growing base of passionate users.