FINTECH

French startup, Pixpay raises money to tap younger banking generation

French start-up Pixpay, which is replacing pocket money with a debit card and money manager app, has raised €3.1 million ($3.4 million) from seed and growth investor Global Founders Capital. Anybody who is older than 10 years old can create a Pixpay  account, get a debit card and manage pocket money.

Most of their competition is targeting older children. For an N26 or Revolut account, you need to be at least 18 years old. For a Lydia account, you need to be at least 14 years old and also need parental consent. Pixpay wants to offer modern payment methods to teens so that you can ditch cash altogether. Parents and kids both download the Pixpay app to interact with the service.

Once signed up, users receive a Mastercard, get to customise their PIN code and receive transaction notifications. The card allows ATM withdrawal limits, and whilst Eurozone ATMs won’t incur any charges, other ATM withdrawals will cost €2. Pixpay also lets you generate virtual cards for online payments.

In addition to some spending analytics, Pixpay allows young users to start projects and earmark funds for particular purchases whilst parents keep tabs on their spending through their own version of the app. Parents can also define an interest rate on a vault account to teach children how to save money. In the future, Pixpay wants to let teens collect money after a babysitting job for instance.

As for parents, they can send money instantly from the Pixpay app. The start-up is looking to develop the product so children can eventually get paid for jobs and chores around the house, and be managed by more than one parent via the app. You can top up your Pixpay account with your favorite debit card and send money on a regular basis (€4 per week for instance) or for one-off payment (here’s €15 for your movie ticket and fast food).

Parents can see an overview of multiple accounts in case you have multiple children using Pixpay. Eventually, the startup wants to let multiple parents manage the account of their child, which could be useful for separated couples.

The company partners with Treezor, a banking-as-a-service platform that lets you generate cards and e-wallet accounts using an API.