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Clarity
Money
Where can you find an unbiased, personal finance app
that serves purely in your interests?
An app that analyzes your bank accounts, your
recurring subscriptions and your spending habits to figure out
how to save you money?
That’s what personal finance app Clarity Money, launching on
Tuesday, promises.
Clarity Money is cofounded by Adam Dell, Michael Dell’s brother,
and backed by some heavy hitters including the Soros Fund,
Maveron Partners and Bessemer Venture Capital.
Once you download the app and link your bank accounts, Clarity
Money promises to analyze your accounts and make suggestions to
save you money. It uses data science and machine
learning to negotiate bills, create a savings account, find lower
interest rate credit cards and/or personal loans, transfer money
between accounts, and deliver actionable insights based on your
spending patterns, credit score and credit cards.
The app can monitor your daily spending and create a budget,
auto discover recurrent subscriptions and cancel the ones
you no longer need, and create an FDIC insured
savings account. It can also analyze your existing credit cards
and surface better options, even applying for you right in the
app.
Clarity
Money
“The whole idea behind it is to give consumers advice,” said
Dell. “People feel overwhelmed and they don’t have the tools to
navigate financial relationships.”
What’s particularly interesting about Dell’s startup is the
B2C model, offering services directly to the consumers with
seemingly unbiased advice. Many startups I’ve come across
that promise to use artificial intelligence and machine learning
to evaluate your finances
tend to be on the B2B side, meaning they only partner with
banks to offer the services of their apps. This means consumers
can only access the app if they already have an account with Bank
of America, Chase or Citi.
While this route often makes sense for new startups as they try
to tap into a bank’s vast customer base, it also means they are
inherently biased. For example, if you can only access a personal
finance app through your Chase account, it’s doubtful it will
tell you to switch banks, even if there is a better deal out
there.
“Two-thirds of customers distrust their financial institutions,”
Dell said. “They charge consumers a lot of fees and interest.”
Dell wants Clarity to be the advocate for the consumer and the
“champion” of your money, helping consumers make better
choices.
Clarity
Money
Clarity Money has so far raised $2.5 million in Series A
financing from the likes of Soros Fund Management, Maveron
Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners. Cofounder and chief data
scientist Hossein Azari hails from Google Research and the
startup partners with Dan Ariely of the Center for Advanced
Hindsight, which studies
behavioral economics and consumer wellness.
The app currently focuses on bills, savings, credit cards and
personal loans, but plans to move into investing and 401k
planning in the future.
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