Inflation has seen many of us increase the monitoring of our spending habits through technology. 

Women in Tech: Financial well-being is a loosely coined term for developing a good relationship with your money, which tech assists us with.

According to figures from The Fintech Effect, in the UK alone, eighty-six per cent of consumers used fintech to manage their money in 2021. In addition, the Global Fintech Market is projected to reach a value of five hundred and three billion euros by the year 2030. 

Financielle is just one fintech platform aimed at helping females keep tabs on their spending. Based in Manchester, the UK, it has over forty thousand users. With the euro area’s annual inflation rate reaching eight point three per cent, money management apps have never been so relevant.

We spoke to Financielle Co-founder Laura Pomfret, who runs the successful fintech platform alongside her sister, Holly Holland.

Can you tell us a little bit about how Financielle was formed?

Believe it or not, Financielle started as an Instagram account in 2018. I first set it to document my money journey. As I gained more followers, I created the Financielle Playbook and enlisted Holly to help grow and scale what had become a business. The Playbook was a digital PDF download that provided a step-by-step guide to help people take back control of their money, ditch debt, increase savings and invest in their future.

We like to refer to it as the Couch to 5k but for money. This was our MVP, and after collecting positive qualitative data like “You helped me pay off £30,000 debt” and “I bought my first home as a solo female buyer”, we recognised we needed to collect quantitative data to show the positive impact of the product and the results it gave our users. As two females navigating finances, our content leaned into financial gender gaps which spoke to a female audience. This led to the launch of the first female-focused finance app in the UK in October 2021.

 In your opinion, what is financial wellness?

It’s hard to say. Financial wellness means different things to different people. For some, it means checking in with their numbers daily; for others, it could mean having money left over at the end of the month. It’s never a financial figure that somebody wants to hit; it’s more of a feeling which is much more tangible. Implementing some of the techniques from The Financielle Playbook can help users feel better instantly, whereas paying off £30,000 of consumer debt could take years.

In a time of inflation, have you noticed more people turning to financial wellness apps?

Inflation and the cost of living crisis have had a huge impact on people turning to financial wellness apps. I think women tend to shoulder the burden of these broad cost increases as they typically take on the responsibility of meal planning, grocery shopping and household budgeting. In this current economic climate, people need to find more room in the budget to make way for price increases, but salaries are stagnant. Our tools help users to find excess in their budget and put it towards things that can grow.

Can you tell us a bit about the technology behind the app?

Our app is different from many budgeting or personal finance apps in the market. Many apps focus on making money management as passive as possible with the help of AI technology and Open Banking. With the technology, we built a flutter app to deploy onto both ios and Android systems, where people navigate content, tools and community to help them manage their money better. We’re working hard on being able to leverage anonymised community data to gamify and support users on their money journey.

What is it like working as two female tech founder sisters? What kinds of internal and/or external challenges have you faced?

We find that we move through business decisions much quicker; we’ve had every argument there is to have over the last thirty-odd years. There’s no ego; it’s all about who has the most appropriate skills to carry out specific tasks. One of the biggest challenges we faced early on was to continue as a bootstrapped business or seek external investment. We want our app to reach as many people as possible, which means we need to scale and grow at pace – therefore, we need capital to help us. We built a network of supportive allies that championed our purpose-driven mission to help women take back control of their money and close some pretty poor gender wealth statistics along the way. Building these networks early on in our journey helped us significantly when raising investment.

Out of all your app features, which is most in demand?

It would have to be The Financielle Playbook and Budget Tracker. Super Users visit our app up to 10 times daily to tweak their budget, update their spending, and read our helpful blogs and E-Books. The secret to success for our users is following the step-by-step plan and applying what they’ve learned to the Budget Tracker.

 I notice you have a community feature; what seems to be the most common money-related topic users like to discuss?

We’ve found that our users seek us out when they have a significant life trigger. They could be looking to save up for their first home; they could be getting divorced, maybe there’s been a death in the family, or their consumer debt has become unmanageable. Our dedicated community allows users to share their worries, concerns, questions and tips in a safe and supportive space. Our community has helped their peers create what we call funds to escape unhealthy marriages, pooled knowledge and expertise to help secure pay rises for community members, and shared their tips on managing money insecurities in relationships.

 Are there any unique features that you would like to make us aware of?

A tool that is underrated in the personal finance space is our Net Worth Tracker, which helps you track your money journey and progress. Even if your Net Worth is small (or negative), if you follow our plan to pay down debt, increase savings or invest, you are growing your net worth. We help users see that no matter the figure, it’s moving in the right direction, which can help keep you accountable and motivated throughout your money journey.

Have you plans to expand Financielle’s user base? If so, how?

We launched Financielle 2.0 at the end of January this year. This was a complete end-to-end redesign (it needed a facelift!) We’re also working on a project that allows us to host our engaged community conversations in our app. 2023 will see us testing, researching and reporting on how our users engage with the platform, which will help us inform on features and functionality moving forward.

And finally, what’s the ambition for Financielle? Where might you like to see the company in, say, three years?

At Financielle, we’re building the brand that we hope females will think of when it comes to money. There’s so much financial content available online that makes it overwhelming to know who to trust and what to do. In three years, we’d like to be recognised as the UK’s female focussed money brand that’s proven to help women take back control of their money, ditch debt and increase their savings. In 2022 we helped premium Financielle users to grow their collective net worth by over £1m. By the end of this year, we’re hoping to multiply this to reach £10 million.