Happy Money, the fintech company enabling people to break up with their credit cards, today announced the close of a Series D funding round of $70 million. Led by CMFG Ventures, LLC, the venture capital entity of CUNA Mutual Group, this investment accelerates Happy Money’s continued growth, further enables partnerships with credit unions and other ethos-aligned financial institutions, and fuels its broader mission of helping borrowers become savers™.
“This successful fundraise is a direct validation of the Happy Money movement and ultimately strengthens our position against what we call ‘Sad Money.’ Mindful capitalism is the future, and we’re leading the charge,” said Scott Saunders, CEO and founder of Happy Money. “We’re committed to helping our members build a happier relationship with their money through our Happy Money ecosystem, which connects lending, spending, and savings products. We’re excited to add CMFG Ventures to our list of strategic investors who believe in eliminating ‘Sad Money’ on a national scale.”
Happy Money’s current product ecosystem helps members pay off debt, save money and evaluate their “happy” and “sad” spending patterns. Happy Money has also developed Happy Score™, an innovative approach to better measure financial well being using cash flow, savings, behavioral and psychometric data.
CMFG Ventures, the venture capital arm of CUNA Mutual Group, emphasized that Happy Money’s focus on forging strategic alliances with credit unions played a significant role in their decision to invest. “We were drawn to Happy Money because of their innovative approach to providing financial tools and services focused on human happiness, as well as their shared ethos with credit unions to serve members and communities,” said Brian Kaas, Vice President of Corporate Development at CUNA Mutual Group and President and Managing Director of CMFG Ventures. “We are confident in Happy Money’s experienced leadership team and are excited to help accelerate their ability to forge partnerships with and bring innovative lending and savings offerings to credit unions and other mission-aligned organizations.”
In addition to this investment, Happy Money has formed a strategic partnership with CUNA Mutual’s national sales force, which has a product relationship with over 95 percent of all credit unions in the United States. With credit unions playing a critical role in the company’s long-term vision, this collaboration expands Happy Money’s relationships with existing financial partners and will bring more into the Happy Money Movement™.
The Series D builds upon a year of significant growth for Happy Money. In July 2018, the company announced three strategic credit union alliances with Alliant, First Tech, and Technology Credit Union to deliver debt elimination loans and have, to date, crossed $1 billion in aggregate debt elimination loans. This milestone was achieved with a total investment of $70 million of equity capital, which validates Happy Money’s capital efficiency.
Since it was launched in 2009, Happy Money has raised over $140 million from investors including Anthemis Group, CMFG Ventures, LLC and Toba Capital, among others.
To learn more about Happy Money, visit: https://www.happymoney.com/.
About Happy Money
Happy Money® is the fintech of the future, delivering digitally-native financial tools and services for human happiness™ through its purpose-driven marketplace between mission-aligned capital and consumers. Happy Money is creating an alternative to the “Sad Money™” system with a connected ecosystem of consumer financial products designed to help borrowers become savers. Happy Money. A Happier Future.™
Backed by leading investors including Anthemis Group, Tencent Holdings and CMFG Ventures, Happy Money has helped 70,000 members pay off over $1 billion in credit card debt. Founded in 2009, Happy Money has over 270 employees and is based in Costa Mesa, California, with offices in New York City. For more information, please visit www.happymoney.com.