Splitwise raised $20 million to help everyone split bills
Splitwise, a Providence, RI-based startup that makes it easy to organize and split bills announced this morning that it has raised $20 million in its first significant round of venture capital financing.
It organizes all shared expenses and IOUs in one place so that everyone can see who they owe. Whether you are sharing a beach vacation, splitting the bar bill with colleagues, or paying someone back for lunch, Splitwise makes life easier by storing data in the cloud so that you can access it anywhere: on iPhone, Android, or on your computer. By keeping all expenses open, the app wants to keep debts clear so that folks don’t have to trip over each other when it comes to money and who owes who.
Perhaps Providence’s best-known startup and listed in Cosmopolitan’s one of the top seven apps to organize your finances it is no wonder that the app has found a global audience.
The app doesn’t make money off of transaction fees or stored consumer funds, it primarily makes money through the use of occasional advertisements and through its paid subscription upgrade service, called Splitwise Pro.
Splitwise adopted a long organic process of growth, unlike other FinTech startups. Since it managed to keep its cost low, there was no need for it raises venture capital at the pace of other conventional finance technology-oriented startups. Jonathan Bittner, CEO of Splitwise indicated that the new capital raised would allow the company to raise its product cadence.
However, all money wouldn’t go into the development of paid-only features for the app. Insight Partners’ Boris Treskunov said in a statement that he’s “excited to see the app become the go-to platform for easy cost-splitting among friends and family.” The startup still remains firm with its initial motive- to create a free user experience for everyone that is willing to invite their friends to the service without risking bringing them into an overly pushy, uncomfortable, and non-user-friendly commercial digital environment.
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