Empower

Empower offers banking services to individuals via a mobile app. The company mainly targets younger demographics who fall into the low-income group and have relatively lower financial literacy. The company provides its banking services in partnership with nbkc Bank.

The company uses AI combined with human coaching to offer personalized financial solutions such as high-yield deposit products, budgeting tools, spend tracking, subscription management, and personalized recommendations, with the intention of improving the financial decision-making of customers. For instance, the app uses AI to provide recommendations on how much customers should save and spend and how they can minimize costs if they have exceeded their overall expense budget. The company also offers access to financial coaches, from which customers gain advice if required.

Products offered by the company include checking accounts (with high interest, according to the company) and automated savings accounts at an APY of 1.6%. The company also offers cash advances of up to USD 250 with no interest and enables customers to automatically repay their advance when they receive their next paycheck.

The company also offers cashback rewards of up to 10% of the transaction value. Unlike the typical concept of offering cashback rewards on spending based on a select group of merchants, the company provides customers with a customized selection of merchants based on a customer’s spending history.

The company provides its services under a subscription model and charges USD 6 per month per customer for its services. The company claims that customers can save around USD 300 in bank fees a year by using its services in comparison to incumbent banks. In addition, the company also claims that the use of its platform can result in customers increasing their annual savings by around USD 1,300. As of March 2020, the company had around 600,000 customers.

Funding and financials

In September 2022, the company raised USD 150 million in Series B funding led by Blisce. The company did not disclose the use of proceeds.