Setting the Scene
Your wallet is bursting with credit cards, and your phone is cluttered with finance apps.
Each card serves a specific purpose, whether it’s for travel, shopping, or scoring 6% cash back on avocado toast. 🥑
You have finance apps for budgeting, tracking subscriptions, and receiving discounts at local stores. 🛍
The chaos in your wallet and on your phone makes you struggle to manage payments and stay organized.
This week’s company consolidates and personalizes finances through a tech-driven credit card.
In a Sentence
Klutch is a credit card that enables users to customize its features.
Customize: Consumers and businesses select financial tools and rewards from an app store or build their own apps.
Features: Cardholders can choose from single-use cards, parental controls, budgeting tools, payment automation, and more.
Bulleted version: Similar to how the App Store lets users add apps to their smartphones, Klutch allows users to add MiniApps to customize their credit cards.📱
The Basics
Industry: Fintech, credit cards, digital banking
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
Year founded: 2019
Employee count: 3
Investors: Lakehouse Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, 500 Startups, angels
Amount raised: $1m
Currently raising: $3m
Business model: Interchange, interest, subscription for premium apps, b2b partnerships
Early traction: Over 10,000 user sign-ups, $550k in total transaction volume, strong organic growth, users opening the app 11x per week, 0 defaults
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
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Due Diligence
WHAT WE LIKE
📈 All-in-one: Klutch aligns with consumer demands in the evolving credit card industry by combining the convenience and security of digital banking with tailored financial tools and rewards.
Plus, the company allows programmers and companies to build MiniApps to meet their specific needs.
💸 Revenue streams: Beyond interchange and interest, the company brings in reliable revenue and builds cash reserves by offering premium MiniApp subscriptions.
👤 The everybody card: Klutch’s personalized credit cards cater to various use cases and needs, enabling the company to attract broad consumer and corporate end markets.
POTENTIAL RISKS
💰 Extending credit: Klutch must maintain sufficient capital reserves to offer credit to a growing user base, cover potential defaults, and comply with regulatory requirements.
🏦 Credit card competition: The company may struggle to take users from well-established financial institutions with significant resources, brand recognition, and consumer trust.
✏️ Learning curve: Klutch must invest in customer education, support, and engagement to ensure users keep up with new features and leverage the card’s full potential.
Cartoon by JRP
Founder Profile
Renato Steinberg, CEO: Previously founded Saferize and Fashion.me (acquired by Coquelux) and served as the first employee and CTO at Bento (acquired by US Bank).
Rachel Ehrlich, COO: Previously led global transactions at Knotel and BD at TD.
To request an introduction to the founder, respond to this email.
Comps
X1: Backed by Soma Capital, Spark Capital, Craft Ventures, and others.
Privacy.com: Owned by Lithic and backed by Bessemer, Index Ventures, Exor, and others.
Fidel API: Backed by Bain Capital Ventures, NYCA Partners, QED Investors, and more.
Fuze: Raised through crowdfunding.
Why Klutch: By allowing customers to customize their credit cards with an app store of features, Klutch may be credited for disrupting digital banking.💰
📌 Bulletin Board
💥 Newchip, no more: Newchip, a startup accelerator known for its equity-free program, was forced into Chapter 7 bankruptcy after failing to pay off $4 million in debt.
🐦 Twitter’s next CEO: Musk hired Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal’s former advertising chief, to replace him as Twitter’s CEO.
🗳 Cast Your Vote
What do you think of Klutch?
Last Week Today
The results are in: Voters were split on Aro, a device and app to help users manage screen time.
Subscriber feedback: “Better concept than anything I've seen.
My concern comes with companies looking to copy this idea…as it seems easy to duplicate.”
