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Card.com, the provider of “branchless” mobile bank accounts via prepaid debit cards, announced Thursday $3 million in Series A funding led by QED Investors. New angel investors such as Greg Steiner of
Beachmint also participated in the round, which will be put towards scaling, updating Card.com’s mobile interface and rolling out new site features that will “help people take care of banking quickly and get on with their lives,” cofounder and CTO
Ron Lin said.
QED began backing CEO Ben Katz and his team since Card.com launched and raised a seed round in 2012 because the two share a very data-driven approach to business. Card.com’s team is all about “the scientific method,” Lin said; in other words, with QED’s support Card.com constantly captures information about how customers use the product so that they can make better decisions down the line.
“We consider those guys the smartest investors in finance tech because they very consciously celebrate and employ rigorous, quantitatively-driven and rational strategies to their decision-making processes,” Lin said of QED Investors. “This complements CARD.com nicely because we apply the very same approaches to tackling the challenge of customer acquisition and nurturing the development of our product.”
Their product, a mobile-accessible prepaid debit card, is further enhanced through their partnerships with famous brands such as the National Autism Association and Star Trek. These brands allow card users to receive VIP access and rewards based on their passions (plus they can show off their passions with a catchy picture on their cards!).
Going into 2014, Card.com will be launching new partnerships with brands such as Elvis Presley and “The Family Guy,” Lin said: “These are incredible, iconic brands to be working with, which tells you just how much confidence people have in our business.”
With so many pop culture-related partnerships that essentially turn card users into “brand ambassadors,” Card.com is a perfect fit for LA, Lin said; LA marketers are expert at globally influencing fanbases through media and pop culture.
“We think that LA is the most advanced place in the world for employing ‘narrative-based’ marketing because LA is a city of storytellers,” Lin said. “We don’t bombard people with ads for our product, but rather we find ways to integrate our product into the storylines and narratives surrounding the causes and interests customers care about.”
Driving Card.com’s strong emphasis on storytelling, data and an overall simple mobile experience for users is a team of less than 20 employees, who Lin said “do the work of 200 people” from their Brentwood office. This team is what will propel Card.com to the top over the next year.
“At the end of the day, people want to see proof of a good team, proof of a business model and an exciting vision for the future; we feel very confident in all three areas,” Lin said. “We will end up being one of the most exciting startups to be coming out of LA in 2014.”
