There are 11.95m+ households in the UK with less than £1,500 in savings. Since early March, the catastrophic impact of Covid-19 has highlighted the treacherous situation the country is facing regarding personal savings. It has become evident that far too many households are living to their means every month.
Making savings effortless
Most households in the UK are dipping into their savings and leaning on the government to make it through the current pandemic. Upside is committed to making savings effortless and automatic by helping people save money in their current spendings. The London-based fintech is currently creating a unique solution utilising the power of open banking to help customers automatically build up enough emergency savings so that any future economic downturns will have much less impact on households.
Pre-seed investment from AND Digital
Whilst many startups and various sectors have found themselves in unpleasant situations, fintech has a chance to respond to the current situation and help customers post Covid-19. Since the beginning of the crisis, consumers have flocked to savings and investment apps. In April 2020 the total minutes spent in finance apps increased by 22 percent. Source https://a16z.com/2020/04/25/fintech-newsletter-april-2020/
Despite these uncertain times, Upside’s proposition and desire to build a nation of savers struck a chord with Paramjit Uppal, founder of AND Digital. The investment aims to help Upside build a product which will help the nation build its savings post-Covid-19.
“The clarity of Upside’s vision to make savings ‘effortless’ is reflected in the collective insight and strength of experience visible across its founding board. This vision resonates powerfully with AND’s values and our own mission to help build digital products which make a remarkable impact on end-users’ lives”
comments Paramjit Uppal.
Stay tuned - a new solution is coming
Both companies are highly driven by the belief that helping people improve their financial security has never felt more relevant and necessary.
Upside brings together founders from financial services, wealth management, and loyalty, whilst AND Digital has already established itself as a leading expert in delivering digital products and services for the financial services sector. AND Digital’s experience in this space means that together, these companies aim to deliver a ground-breaking ‘Upside-saving’ solution to users’ hands in July 2020.
Sign up here to get in on Upside’s early beta version.
About Upside
Upside is a London-based fintech startup which aims to utilise the power of open banking and help consumers build effortless savings through the power of data, as well as helping merchants engage with their customers on a new level. Upside’s Founder Andries Smit had come up with his idea before the Covid-19 crisis, but the current situation has only highlighted the need to build up savings for every household. Upside has recently closed a pre-seed round of over £500k and is looking forward to launching its main seed round formally in July.
About AND Digital
Founded in 2014 by Paramjit Uppal, AND Digital is the go-to digital enablement partner for global organisations including British Airways, Gousto, NBrown Group and Condé Nast. AND Digital empowers organisations with the ability to build digital products AND grow their internal capability along the way. To achieve this, the company blends technical software craft and digital product expertise with an award-winning learning and development ethos.