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Setting the Scene
Whether it has been with a significant other, roommate, or friend, chances are you’ve been subject to the chaos of splitting expenses.
This usually unfolds in several disorganized ways:
Awkward Venmo requests: These often lead to disputes and uncomfortable conversations.
The notes app: That ever-growing laundry list of who paid for groceries tends to be a disaster and often inaccurate.
An excel sheet: There’s nothing more romantic than a shared Google Sheet and crunching numbers on date night.
This week’s company provides a platform that allows couples to automatically split and manage expenses.
In a Sentence
Smoov is an app for couples to split and manage expenses.
Couples: Smoov primarily targets couples but the technology is applicable to roommates, friends, families, and more.
Split: The app integrates with credit cards and bank accounts, automates calculations based on the selected split percentage, and enables one-tap splitting and money transfers.
Bulleted version: Think of Smoov as a combination of Venmo’s transaction capabilities with Mint’s all-in-one budget tracker, built for couples to automate the splitting of dinner bills to utility costs.
The Basics
Industry: Fintech, Consumer internet
Headquarters: Los Angeles, CA
Year founded: 2021
Employee count: 3 FTE’s & 4 part time
Investors: Spark Capital
Currently raising: $550k pre-seed with $170K in
Business model: Monthly subscription ($14 per couple) and eventually the opportunity to implement a transaction fee and monetize data
Early traction: Just finished beta with 150 couples who split over $200k, 1000+ waitlist with no marketing spend.
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
Founders, did you know that a minor adjustment in your Post-Money SAFE's language could save you millions in equity.
Without changes, Post-Money SAFEs heavily favor investors by protecting them from dilution in future funding rounds.
A partner at Optimal Counsel delves into this crucial issue in a well thought out post here.
Preventing undue dilution of founders and employees is just a glimpse of the comprehensive legal guidance Optimal Counsel provides when working with startups.
Due Diligence
WHAT WE LIKE
🎯 Target market: The global payment management market is expected to continue growing at a strong rate, plus half of married millennial couples (14M) don’t have any shared bank accounts.
To reach $10M in ARR with only subscription revenue, Smoov needs less than 1% of the married millennial market— which doesn’t factor in Gen Z, unmarried couples, or friends.
👩💻 Couples need a solution: 42% of couples in the US report having financial disagreements with their partner, and couples report that the majority of their Venmo transactions are with their partners.
Smoov’s positioning to address couples and their finances is a huge opportunity reinforced by an early bet by top-tier firm, Spark Capital.
📊 Future revenue streams: Beyond subscriptions, Smoov has an opportunity to charge transaction fees, sell data, and form synergistic partnerships with dating apps.
POTENTIAL RISKS
💰 Fundraising: Smoov's limited traction post-beta may spark investor caution, even though these funds are critical for scaling their distribution and product development efforts.
🤔 Adoption Resistance: In a market filled with generic finance tracking apps, Smoov may struggle to convince users that a specialized app for couples is a necessity rather than a luxury.
👣 The giants: Financial behemoths like Venmo and Cash App could potentially break into the couples' market by rolling out new features.
Smoov needs to innovate swiftly to become an acquisition target, rather than a feature they could replicate.
Founder Profile
Tucker Cohen, CEO: A decade of experience building process and leading software sales teams at multiple high-growth unicorn startups including Seismic and Drift
To request an introduction to the founder, respond to this email.
Comps
Ivella: Backed by Y Combinator, Restive, Soma Capital, and others.
Splitwise: Backed by Insight Partners, Walnut Ventures, Andrew Chen, and others
Zeta: Backed by Goodwater, FinRise, Deciens Capital, Precursor Ventures, and others.
Why Smoov: By providing a seamless solution for splitting bills, tailored to how modern-day couples spend together, this company is flirting with a huge opportunity.
📌 Bulletin Board
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🗞 This week in venture: President Biden just issued an executive order on AI that may have a significant impact on startups.
💡 The innovation situation: There’s a growing consensus that there will be accelerated innovation in defense tech within the coming years.
🗳 Cast Your Vote
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Last Week Today
The results are in: Materially, a construction material management platform digitizing the process between suppliers, buyers, and haulers was favored.
Subscriber feedback: “This is the tip of the iceberg for opportunities for this company given this positioning in the antiquated construction industry.”
✍️ Written by Brett