Personal savings app Oval Money has raised €1.2m in funding backed by Italy’s Gruppo Intesa SanPaolo.
Oval Money also received investment from b-ventures, an incubator from Japan’s DOCOMO Digital, and Bertoldi Group Family Office.
The app, which is launching in the UK today, was founded by Benedetta Arese Lucini, the former head of Uber Italy.
“To help people get a hold of their finances, Oval combines machine learning with the lessons users can teach one another to create collective intelligence. We want to create a new platform for people to both help themselves and help others as they identify intelligent strategies to save,” said Lucini, also the CEO.
The news comes after a recent Aviva report showed that the average household in Britain maintains just over £3,000 in savings and investments.
Oval Money claims that on average, users of its beta product, saved slightly over £400 over the past three months,
The startup was also co-founded by Claudio Bedino and Edoardo Benedetto, co-founders of crowdfunding platform Starteed.com, and Simone Marzola, a machine learning and AI expert and now the company’s CTO.
“We are really excited about the level of community engagement we have seen among our beta users. When it comes to personal finance, it is clear that people want to help each other make better decisions.
“This not only involves the gratification of telling others that you are getting your finances on track, but also in knowing that there is a support network you can both contribute to and learn from. This is what being an Ovaler is all about,” said Bedino.
Oval Money was included in the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s FinTech Sandbox.