Envel

Envel is building the world’s smartest bank account.

This company has created a unique mobile banking app that uses Artificial Intelligence to optimize users’ money. Simply put, users can automatically have their money divided up among 99 FDIC insured bank accounts, giving them total control over their spending and savings habits.

Envel’s team has extensive experience in the Fintech sector. Members have previously worked at Wells Fargo, JP Morgan, Circle, Barclays, and PayPal.

This is a massive sector. By 2025, the U.S. fintech market is projected to surpass $300 billion. And M&A activity in this market has seen some blockbuster deals. For example:

• In January 2020, Visa acquired Plaid, a network that makes it easy for people to connect their financial accounts to apps, for $5.3 billion.

• In September 2018, PayPal acquired iZettle, a mobile payments startup, for $2.2 billion.

• And in April 2020, SoFi acquired Galileo, a banking and payments platform, for $1.2 billion.

Meanwhile, some personal finance apps have achieved significant valuations:

Acorns, a mobile app that rounds up and invests a person’s spare change, raised funds last month at a $1.9 billion valuation. And Digit, a mobile app that tracks personal spending habits, recently raised capital at a $4 billion valuation.

Envel is unlike any other Fintech company. That’s because its primary goal isn’t simply to help people spend less, save more, or maintain a budget. Its mission is to reinvent banking from the ground up.

Traditional banks don’t offer the freedom or advice to help organize and manage money. Furthermore, they generally offer only one or two core bank accounts (checking and savings, for instance).

Envel offers flexibility, enabling users to open up to nearly 100 FDIC insured bank accounts, which it calls “envelopes.”

Simply put, envelopes are how Envel helps users manage their money.

To start, it splits a user’s income into four main envelopes: Cash, Bills, Vault, and Emergency. This is done automatically, or what the company calls on “financial autopilot.”

In addition to these base envelopes, users can create other ones, and have money automatically go into those areas. For example, a person who enjoys daily trips to Starbucks can create a “Coffee” envelope. Or a person who likes to stream movies can create an envelope to pay for Netflix and Hulu accounts.

Over time, Envel’s AI technology learns a user’s needs and goals, and creates personalized budgets and envelopes to guide their daily, weekly, and monthly spending.

Along with the envelopes, Envel lets users set different levels of spending. “Penny Pinching” mode, for example, reminds users to spend less. “Beast Mode” enforces increased savings. And “Party Mode” enables users to spend more during a holiday, without compromising their savings goals.

Another unique feature to Envel is its interactions with users. Essentially, the company realized that banking can be boring. So it uses witty, humorous reminders to keep users engaged and on track with their goals.

Envel generates revenue from interchange fees and interest income. Interchange fees are fees vendors and stores pay when they accept payments via credit or debit cards. So when users use their Envel debit card to make a payment, Envel will earn revenue. This revenue will not come from users, but from merchants.

Interest income will be earned by pooling all deposits and splitting the revenue earned with Envel’s banking partners. Future revenue sources will include opt-in products and services, or a potential monthly subscription fee to access premium features.

Envel has raised $8 million from angel investors and MIT Sandbox, an innovation fund affiliated with Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The company launched its banking platform in fall 2020.

Moving forward, Envel will unveil features such as bill pay functionality, autonomous investing, and tax, lending, and insurance services.

Team Background

Craig Bond - Chairman

Craig has 30 years of banking experience.

Most recently, he spent five years with Barclays, an international financial services company, serving as Chief Executive of Retail and Business Banking for the company’s Africa Group.

Prior to that, he spent 12 years with Standard Bank Group, another International financial services company. While there, he was Managing Director of the company’s Africa division and later became Chief Executive of its China division.

Earlier in his career, Craig was a general manager with Nedbank, a financial services company. He began his career serving in the South African Army, including two years of military services and five years in the civilian reserve force.

He earned a degree at the University of the Witwatersrand and studied at Harvard Business School.

Steve Le Roux - Co-Founder & CEO

Steve began his career as Founder of Diversity Solutions, an information technology consulting business for government-related clients. From there, he founded Ingenious, developers of cloud-based software-as-a-service for customer relationship management.

More recently, he was Chief Technology Officer with GuideStar International, a non-profit connecting charities with resources to complete their missions. He then became Head of Information Technology with NEST Corporation, a financial services company.

Prior to starting Envel, he was Head of Product Innovation for Associated British Foods, a food production company.

Steve earned a Master’s degree in Managerial Finance from Harvard.

Diederik Meeuwis - Co-Founder

Prior to starting Envel, Diederik worked for Smurfit Kappa, a leading provider of packaging solutions. He served as a manager in operations and a European business analyst.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree from Universiteit Leiden and a Master’s degree in International Business Administration.

Matthew Armandi - Chief Financial Officer

Matthew began his career as a senior auditor with UHY Advisors, an accounting firm. From there, he was a senior associate with KPMG, a professional services company.

More recently, he was Chief Financial Officer with Aristotle International, a technology company supporting the politics industry. He started his role with Envel in September 2020.

Matthew earned his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Information Systems from West Virginia University.

Brian Higdon - Chief Compliance Officer

Brian has extensive experience in the financial technology industry.

After serving four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, he became an associate with Deloitte, a management consulting company. From there, he was a compliance officer with JP Morgan, an investment banking company.

He then worked for Deloitte again, serving as a manager for three years, before becoming an operations manager with Circle, a financial services company.

More recently, Brian was a manager with Wells Fargo, and joined Envel in August 2020.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Government and International Relations from Georgetown University.

Co-Investors

MIT Sandbox

Accelerator and innovation firm affiliated with Massachusetts Institute of Technology.