Swedish financial management start-up Qapital is preparing to launch in the US with a service that enables users to track their spending, set savings goals, and transfer cash to a savings account held by an FDIC-insured banking partner.
Qapital moved out of beta late last year, with a smartly-designed PFM app that incorporates all the usual account aggregation, spending, budgeting and goal-setting tools.
However, in creating a Qapital savings account - as revealed by
TechCrunch - the firm is taking the PFM concept one-step further, moving into the territory occupied by disruptive 'bank 2.0' outfits such as Moven and Simple.
"We're going after the 20% or 30% of your income that's spent on crap," founder and CEO George Friedman told TechCrunch. "It's that huge chunk of your money that you don't remember spending or don't care about at the end of the month."
Friedman says the firm will initially launch in the US as an account aggregation and budgeting tool. "The savings piece, and moving money into our partnering banks, will launch after the summer."