Alvin, a Kenyan startup that helps consumers align their daily spending with their savings goals, has raised a US$740,000 pre-seed funding round to continue developing its platform, which is now in private beta.
Ingressive Capital led the round, which also included Zephyr Acorn, Voltron Capital, Future Africa, and Tahseen Consulting. Among the round’s other significant investors were Paystack CEO Shola Akinlade and Tony Nicalo, the former CEO of marketing firm Dondé.
Additionally, the fundraising round included US$100,000 from Forum Ventures, a US-based B2B SaaS-focused accelerator program, after Alvin was selected to join in its W22 batch beginning this month, as well as participation from a few additional American and Kenyan angel investors.
Alvin, which launched in May 2021, is a smart money management software that employs automated budgeting, personalized offers, and behavioral game design tactics to help users sustainably align their everyday spending with their savings goals.
The firm published its flagship product, the Alvin App v1 Labrador private beta, as a soft launch to allow for revisions prior to an official debut, and closed a US$740,000 pre-seed fundraising round last year.
“The only personal finance apps available in Kenya were not optimized for the local context, provided no guidance to assist us in acquiring the assets we desired to save for, and only enabled us to save but provided no daily support to assist us in saving for long-term goals,” Alvin’s CEO Winston Reid explained.
Although the Alvin app will be publicly available in Kenya in the coming months, the business already has global ambitions.
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