Junio, a kids-focused digital smart card that lets children make digital and physical purchases, has announced to raise $3 million in a seed round. The fundraising round is backed by marquee institutional investors along with angel investors.
The funds will be utilized to enhance the company’s product development and customer acquisition initiatives.
Co-founded by former Paytm alumni Shankar Nath and Ankit Gera in September 2020, the idea behind Junio is to digitize pocket money for children between classes 4th and 10th, while nurturing financial knowledge and discipline in them at an early age.
“Junio acts as a smart card and allows kids to make physical and digital purchases… our aim is to create a community of financially smart and empowered young generation. The target is to deploy 2 lakh smart cards pan India by the end of 2021,” said Ankit Gera, co-founder, Junio.
In addition to instant pocket money transfer, the app also allows parents to keep a track of how much children spend and lets parents create in-app daily tasks for their kids and tie them with perks. The app is integrated with features such as setting withdrawal limits for ATM and gives flexibility to parents to cancel the card at any moment using the app.
“Kids-focused fintech is a new concept in India and a space that is unexplored. What’s most impressive is Junio’s approach to meet the needs of the millennials who are inclined towards the digital world, shopping online using their parent’s debit/credit card. The new-age fintech startup aims to nurture financial literacy among children and empowers them to grow into financially independent adults,” said Dib Chaudhuri, a Singapore-based serial entrepreneur and angel investor.
