Flourish Fi

Financial institutions and other organizations spend billions every year yet struggle to better service young consumers and individuals who have traditionally been underserved by mainstream products. The pandemic greatly worsened the financial situation of several families and saving money is on people’s mind. Therefore, now, more than ever, the customer's journey and their expectations are evolving quickly. So, financial institutions need to move fast to meet their needs. Also, in Brazil, more than 40 million people opened bank accounts for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet micro-entrepreneurs and individuals working informally still struggle to use financial services in ways that are relevant to their goals and needs. A large part of financial institutions are having difficulties attracting and retaining customers digitally. Increasingly, banks and credit unions are spending hundreds of billions to increase their customers' share of wallet and loyalty. However, customers still struggle to understand financial products - and how to save, invest, and pay bills digitally.

There is a lack of tools that help financial institutions better interact with their customers digitally to attract and increase the loyalty of these customers, especially when it comes to leveraging behavioral science and human-centered design to boost engagement. At the same time, for financial institutions, it is increasingly difficult to access technology talent - making it difficult to develop these solutions in-house. This situation made the digital environment an essential tool to be close and engage with customers, and only companies who truly understand their changing client needs and implement programs related to financial health and digital engagement will thrive.

Flourish offers data-driven nudges for improved money management. Leveraging behavioral science, Flourish utilizes AI-driven incentives and nudges to help people and business owners build healthy financial management habits. Flourish licenses its customer engagement and financial wellness platform to banks, fintechs and credit unions. Flourish’s platform (widgets, SDKs and API) is modular and simply integrates into the ecosystem of financial solutions. The platform helps bank customers build positive money habits by creating accessible and rewarding journeys. Flourish enables financial institutions to better engage their users driving digital adoption and loyalty using gamification mechanics and data intelligence. 

The product modules can be configured in different ways to design a unique solution for banks to incentivize consumers to save/invest money, pay loans/bills on time, increase app/digital banking usage and refer new customers. The technology is often embedded into the financial institution’s mobile app or web portal through a “low code, no code” solution. Here is a link for one of our use cases:

https://www.accion.org/gamification-motivates-microentrepreneurs-to-save-in-bolivia

Flourish started focusing on tier two banks and credit unions, and have since evolved to serve mid-tier financial (depository) institutions, innovative lending entities, neobanks and fintechs and digital-first retailers offering financial services whose customer base is largely made up of low-to-moderate income individuals. 

We are specifically targeting those who have been historically excluded from accessing traditional financial services. Through various customer segmentation exercises, we have identified that these types of institutions are struggling to implement new digital product offerings and are in the process of undergoing major digital transformation changes. 

Our target end-users are those that are under 40 (often late 20s and mid-30s) and for different reasons (i.e.: trust, language barrier, lack of knowledge) had a hard time adopting digital financial products. 

We are currently working with institutions in the US and LATAM that target low-income small business owners (LatAm) and the underserved hispanic population who need access to responsible credit (US). Managing money is often a stressful subject for most people, and especially for small business owners and these starting out their financial journey. The challenges range from the use of digital tools to applying personal finance management best practices, accessing responsible loans, and understanding how to properly distinguish between their personal and business finances.

Take the example of Lourdes, who sells accessories in a flea market. She pursues her education to strengthen the future of her family but managing her business, personal bills, saving, and prioritizing her finances is tough.  With Flourish, she started receiving personalized quests that encouraged and simplified her financial growth. She may also take her new financial knowledge and business management skills to impact the community around her.

Looking to our Theory of Change, we are committed to driving systems change by positively impacting low-to-moderate income people to break the perpetual cycle of financial insecurity they experience. Research shows that people with a savings fund are more likely to weather financial shocks, be less stressed and  in a better position to support others in their community. Money is a critical fabric of society and we make it more accessible and rewarding for all.

Pedro (CEO and Co-Founder) has over 10 years of personal finance experience working at institutions including Morgan Stanley, Chase and being part of the early team that built Oportun, a responsible lender now listed on the Nasdaq. He has a multicultural outlook, formed through personal experiences, including having lived and worked in Brazil, Mexico, and the United States. When Pedro Moura was 15, he and his family immigrated from Brazil to pursue the American Dream. With Pedro's mother cleaning houses, making ends meet was tough. Saving money was an aspirational goal that neither of them knew how to achieve. They experienced, first hand, that traditional financial services were not made for people like his family (minority and immigrant population). Pedro's early career in banking reinforced that reality. Since then, he has been on a mission to empower all people to achieve their financial goals. Pedro and Jessica created Flourish to build inclusive banking products. Jessica (COO and Co-Founder) spent most of her career as an investor in technology/education and brings deep experience as an effective operations leader in the philanthropic sector before founding Flourish with Pedro at Berkeley Haas. Together, Jessica and Pedro built a diverse and strong team, with depth in fintech, gaming and highly regulated markets. Our technology leader brings 25 years of experience in banking, telco and mobile payment space. And leading Product is Cristiano Miano, who brings 20 years of experience creating innovative loyalty programs and products for financial services.

The Flourish team brings many years of consumer finance, product development experience and marries this with passion for social impact. We have surrounded ourselves with incredible early investors such as Rodrigo Xavier, former CEO of BofA in Brazil; Gustavo Lasala, former COO of Opportunity Fund and current CEO People Fund. 

To date, we have raised more than USD 4.1 million and have been recognized as the winner of the global award Inclusive Fintech 50 (IF50) by the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) and we are an official Mastercard partner to distribute our technology across the Americas. We recently participated and won the Startup Pitch Competition at the Mastercard LAC Innovation Forum in Miami, Florida.

In 2022 we were recognized and awarded by the ecosystem as the Innovation Fund Winner by the Mastercard Center of Inclusive Growth, and also participated in the Mastercard Start Path program; Jessica Eting (Co-founder and COO) was named 2022 Aspen Ideas Festival Fellow; we were also accelerated by BTG BoostLAB Batch #10, and winner of the #StartPath pitch competition at Converge, Mastercard Latam Innovation Forum, and recently winners of the Innovation Fintech Award from Fintech Americas 2023.

We have 10 financial institutions as customers in 5 countries across the Americas (Brazil, USA, Bolivia, Costa Rica and Mexico), and our technology impacts over 80.000 individuals and micro-entrepreneurs (registered in our platform).

In the current era of uncertainty due to the effects of the global pandemic, high inflation rates, amongst many other macro social-economic factors, responsible and accessible financial services for low-income households and businesses are more critical than ever. As a minority founder of a fintech startup focused on inclusive financial products, I understand firsthand the value of being surrounded by like-minded people redesigning the way these products are built and how people interact with money.

We decided to apply for the Financial Inclusion Challenge offered by MIT Solve to expand our network of innovators that are passionate about solving the challenge of financial inclusion. Through the program, we can access mentors with research and behavioral insights to inform the development of our product roadmap and vision, align more effectively with our clients (financial institution), and enhance our understanding of the fast-changing regulatory landscape.

We are at a critical phase of our company where faster product iteration is key while building a repeatable sales process. We believe that being a part of the MIT Solve Global Challenge on Financial Inclusion will strengthen our network and become a thought partner in our go-to-market strategy and tactics to cross $1M in ARR in 2023.

We are excited to connect with experts from a diverse range of fields to receive feedback on the business strategy, access resources and support to scale our solutions, and build valuable relationships with mentors, investors, and collaborators who share our passion for financial inclusion.

Additionally, the chance to showcase our work on the program's website, at events, and conferences, is a unique opportunity to increase Flourish’s visibility and credibility, which could lead to more media coverage, new partnerships, and potential investment opportunities.

Ultimately, we are committed to making a meaningful impact on the world and contributing to solving some of the most pressing global challenges. We are confident that participating in the MIT Solve Global Challenge on Financial Inclusion will provide Flourish with the resources, connections, and exposure needed to achieve this goal.

Successfully encouraging positive savings behavior is an uphill battle for financial service providers around the globe. Many underserved people have a clear vision of what they would like to save for and exactly how much it would cost, but most struggle with the discipline and commitment to deposit regularly into formal savings accounts. Those who do manage to save often prefer to save informally, either by saving cash at home or using informal savings schemes that frequently charge a premium for their services; these options are costly and less secure. Building the financial health and resilience of Latin American individuals is at the core of Flourish’s mission: people need savings to overcome moments of crisis, endure shocks, and support their businesses and families.

Most solutions are offering credit card points, mileage, or cash back that is expensive to the bank and a direct trigger to the customer to engage and stay on the app. We saw an opportunity to use behavioral science and gamification to develop a cheaper and more engaging solution for banks. For clients who pay on time, check their balance weekly, save money, or any of our customized journeys we reward them with points that can be used to play games and win prizes. By breaking down complex concepts or processes into smaller, more manageable tasks or challenges, mobile applications and digital banking can also help customers better understand how to use their services. That is why Flourish Fi's technology is modular and can be combined in different ways creating a personalized experience for each one of our clients.

In collaboration with top behavioral scientists and data experts, we are building the next generation of engagement tools to help underserved individuals and businesses build resilience and achieve financial freedom. We combine proven gaming mechanics and a nudging system that encourages people to transact, build the habits of saving money, pay their bills on time, create credit history, adopt digital products, and spend smartly—all while learning healthy financial habits in their day-to-day money decisions.

Our “engagement as a service” products give our clients mechanics that drive desired financial behavior while creating an engaging experience for end users that simplifies and rewards responsible financial behavior. Our clients can create deeper relationships and generate insights that allow them a better understanding of their member base and potentially offer the right products at the right timing. 

The use of gamification and human-centered design in other contexts to motivate and engage people to achieve their goals have been game changers in many industries. We have experienced successful usage of this with Duolingo for language learning, Strava for athletes, etc. Financial institutions can use this technique to increase financial wellbeing, and promote responsible financial behavior. That’s why reference and resourceful institutions like Nubank, C6 Bank and Itaú have already started to develop and offer similar features In Brazil, but they’re still a minority in a huge market.

Our main impact goal is to be able to impact more than 1 million people with our technology by the end of 2023, and by over 10 million in the next five years. When we are fully deployed with our current customers (financial institutions) to all their user base, we are going to be able to reach around 10 million people with our solutions.

Active users in the platform

Increase in savings

Increase in on-time bill payments 

Increase in on-time loan payments

Financial Health modules completed

Increase in transactions made through digital channels

In collaboration with top behavioral scientists and data experts, we are building the next generation of engagement tools to help underserved individuals and businesses build resilience and achieve financial freedom. We combine proven gaming mechanics and a nudging system that encourages people to transact, build the habits of saving money, pay their bills on time, create credit history, adopt digital products, and spend smartly—all while learning healthy financial habits in their day-to-day money decisions.

Our “engagement as a service” products give our clients mechanics that drive desired financial behavior while creating an engaging experience for end users that simplifies and rewards responsible financial behavior. Our clients can create deeper relationships and generate insights that allow them a better understanding of their member base and potentially offer the right products at the right timing. We provide a configurable, brandable solution, with flexibility in the level of integration. This allows institutions to move quickly to implement select engagement mechanics or they may fully integrate a suite of our offering, depending on the outcomes they seek to achieve. 

For example, a bank decides that they want to drive deposits to a specific savings account and elect to implement our lottery-based mechanic. With only a simple API integration we are able to deliver an engaging experience for the end user. From the end user experience, take for example a user, Yris. She is alerted of the opportunity to win cash and other prizes by making deposits into her savings account. As she makes deposits, she is encouraged to continue her behavior. When she qualifies to win a prize based on her savings activity, she receives a unique link that takes her to a “Spin the Wheel” where she has the opportunity to win. When she wins, her prize is automatically fulfilled and she is encouraged to tell her friends about her experience, leading to potential new customers for the credit union.

Flourish offers data-driven nudges for improved money management. Leveraging behavioral science, Flourish utilizes AI-driven incentives and nudges to help people and business owners build healthy financial management habits. Flourish licenses its customer engagement and financial wellness platform to banks, fintechs and credit unions. The platform helps bank customers build positive money habits by creating accessible and rewarding journeys. Flourish enables financial institutions to better engage their users driving digital adoption and loyalty using gamification mechanics and data intelligence. 

The product modules can be configured in different ways to design a unique solution for banks to incentivize consumers to save/invest money, pay loans/bills on time, increase app/digital banking usage and refer new customers. The technology is often embedded into the financial institution’s mobile app or web portal through a “low code, no code” solution.

We are a software company and Flourish provides a SDK and WebSDK that helps institutions integrate Flourish experience into their application with a minimum effort and starting with reducing the boilerplate code you have to write. 

Our process and technology manages security & compliance risks, while maintaining high productivity. We follow the best practices in the industry to guarantee the complete security of data, processes, and systems; we do not process natural and sensitive data, and we are GDPR compliant.

• Full database encryption at rest

• All data are encrypted in transit using TLS 1.3 protocol

• Infrastructure security on cloud with controlled access

Secure software development lifecycle with: Structured development, Code review, Security concerns, Automated regression testing.

And if necessary a dedicated VPN connection between our Backends.

At Flourish, we are flexible to consume the data needed to stimulate the behaviors and incentivize users to achieve their goals, the main ways of doing it are by: the customer generate events and consume the Flourish APIs, Flourish consume the institution’s APIs in a polling operation, or Flourish consumes events through batch files.

At Flourish we believe in creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization. We believe that it is important that our team internally be a representation of the diversity of end users we hope to impact and ensure that our mission to create economic opportunities for all people is carried on in how we run our company. 

We strive to create equitable systems within our organization and foster an environment that allows individuals to be heard and respected while being their honest selves. Although embedded in the values we have set as a company and in the beliefs that we follow, we know we have a lot of room to grow. We seek to codify our principles within the organization and improve how we incorporate these fully into the core of how we operate. We look forward to learning from the structures that others have put into place in order to grow our approach to DEI and further diversity of our network to ensure that the ecosystem around us supports the efforts we are taking internally.

Flourish strongly believes that the success of our mission, to empower people to create positive financial habits, relies on attracting, fostering, and upholding a diverse and equitable workforce. We are committed to providing an engaging and transparent work environment for all employees. Through Flourish’s evolution we have hired individuals across North America, South America, and Southeast Asia that come from various professional, personal, and educational backgrounds.

We license the technology (Software as a Service) to financial institutions. We charge an implementation fee for the platform and a licensing fee based on active users in the platform (tiered pricing). 

Our customers are mid-sized banks and fintechs with depository capabilities that struggle with competitive advantage in a market with strong players like traditional banks (incumbents) and large neobanks that have risen in the last few years. They usually have smaller and less efficient product development teams and take more time to go live with new technology, and fight for a higher share of wallet in a consumer's total balance so they can offer other products like credit cards. With their hands full trying to compete on core banking solutions, they have little to none time focusing on customer experience and engagement, so we target companies that are willing to spend on digitization, especially if this means raising loyalty, retention and LTV. We also work with financial institutions that can offer specific value propositions for segmented clusters of consumers. 

Our technology drives customer acquisition and retention through digital journeys using gamification and behavioral science techniques, with a no-code / low-code solution. Our modules are ready to be integrated with financial institutions, and the journeys are designed to help the end-user perform actions within the platform - creating a relationship with the institution and eliminating the stress of managing money, especially for low-income users. 

A more engaged customer is likely to stay with the bank or credit union for a longer period of time and is more likely to hire new services/products, thus improving NPS and retention. This all translates into higher revenue per customer over time (LTV), lower costs for acquiring new customers, and brand differentiation from other players. Additionally, at a time when the barrier to entry for opening a digital bank account is so low, being the customer’s primary account is essential for financial institutions, given that many have invested heavily in acquisition but now struggle to activate all these dormant accounts.

Flourish’s competitive advantage is that it offers a suite of  user-centric white-label services that improves the customer experience through seamless and flexible integration with legacy banking systems.

We have raised $4.1 million USD from leading Venture Capital funds in Latin America and the US. A few of them are: Canary, Magma Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners (scout fund), Remarkable Ventures, Seedstars International Ventures, First Check Ventures, The Venture City, Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, I am the Fund, Potencia Ventures, Amplifica Capital, Cap Table Coalition, Xochi Ventures.

Angels include the former president of Bank of America in Brazil, Mastercard President and founders of Esusu.