“All of us use money, and the wellbeing of each of us is crucially dependent on our financial wellbeing.”
This was the thought that led Ida Mänty, CEO of ROI, and founder of wellbeing app Cuckoo, to create ROI app – a financial wellbeing platform that takes into account the diversity of people, their knowledge, and their different socio-economic situations.
Ida had realized that despite the fact that everyone needs to deal with money, many financial services are targeted to a very general but narrow customer profile in which she couldn’t find herself in.
Approaching saving and investing from the angle of wellbeing, ROI app attracts especially women aged 25-35. However, Ida emphasizes that the app is also for men who find this approach resonating with them.
“ROI wants to be the holistic mentor and tool for financial wellbeing for everyone, not just a few, by speaking especially to those underrepresented in the finance sector.“ tells Ida.
Boosting visibility with influencers
From the very beginning, ROI has done cooperation with influencers in its financial wellbeing training programs. The list includes influencers like Jasmin Hamid, Terhi Majasalmi, and Mimmit sijoittaa -duo.
“We want to create a platform where people find peer support. All of our influencers have in common that they are women who are vocal about money and break the taboo around it. We share the same mission.” tells Ida.
At the moment the app offers training programs. In the future, saving and investing features are integrated to the platform.
“Go fast when you have to, but never on matters that are important”
ROI app closed its pre-seed round in January attracting 600k euros, 195k euros of which came from angel investors many FiBAN angels included. In addition, the company opened up an opportunity for its employees to buy shares. For its seed round later next year, the company has set its goal in 1,6M euros.
“We are happy to have very committed investors onboard in ROI. We do phone calls with many quarterly and with some even weekly. It’s not only about the financial support but also other support”, Ida tells.
What’s the secret behind the impressive rounds ROI has done?
“The team, definitely. It took me a year to build up the team, but it has already paid back. I know that with this team and its committed, highly experienced people, we can do anything and go through anything.”
“So the receipt would be: go fast when you need to, but never on matters that are important”, Ida concludes.
Join ROI, Nordea, Helsinki Business Hub, and FiBAN in Fintech Webinar on 19th October
Ida Mänty will be speaking at Arctic15 official satellite event Fintech Growth Funding in Finland webinar 19.10. together with FiBAN, Nordea, and Helsinki Business Hub. In the webinar, you will hear about the fintech ecosystem and the opportunities and services there are for fintech startups in Finland. Welcome to matchmake and meet the brightest Finnish fintech startups, largest banks, investors and other ecosystem’s key players!
Read more and register here.
More information
Ida Mänty, CEO, ROI Financial Technologies Oy, ida.manty@roi-app.com
Vesa Riihimäki, Head of Startup & Growth Business, Nordea, vesa.riihimaki@nordea.fi
Teemu Seppälä, Senior Business Advisor, Helsinki Business Hub, teemu.seppala@helsinkibusinesshub.fi
Amel Gaily, Managing Director, Finnish Business Angels Network – FiBAN, amel.gaily@fiban.org