Splittable, the London-based startup that makes an app to help manage and share household expenses, has raised $1.2 million in new funding to further build out the software and increase marketing.
Regards the former, this will include integrating payments within the iOS, Android and web-based app, either to settle up amongst house members or to pay bills directly with service providers. This will also form the basis of its business model.
More broadly, Splittable is attempting to remove the conflict that shared expenditure can cause for those that share a home.
“Leases are ended and friendships are sometimes destroyed over household bills and expenses,” says Nick Katz, Splittable co-founder and ‘Chief Housemate’ (yes I did just reluctantly type those words) and something he has experienced personally.
“Splittable enables householders to track anything they’re spending money on together – from rent and bills to everyday expenses like groceries. I’ve always found it ridiculous that commercial owners, landlords and agents have so much technology at their finger tips and yet we as consumers, have very little meaningful software to help us deal with our households on a regular basis.”
To that end, the Splittable app makes it clear who has paid for what and most importantly, who should pay for the next thing. It does this through something the startup has dubbed its ‘All Squared Meter’, which gives an at-a-glance overview of who owes what and to whom.
“Rather than focusing on paying each other back for every expense, large and small, our All Squared Meter makes it easy to see who hasn’t contributed in a while and should pay for the next thing. We also enable housemates to settle up with each other as and when they need to and our next big step with this financing is to make it easier for our housemates to pay for various services related to the home,” says Katz.
Competitors in the space include generic splitting apps like Splitwise. There are also payments platforms like Venmo or apps focused on other verticals like restaurant bills.
Adds Katz: “Splittable differentiates by focusing deeply on household finance – helping young people better manage this means they’ll be better off financially and emotionally. We’re building technology and partnerships to help harmonise the relationships between people and their homes so that they can enjoy the best experience of living together.”
Meanwhile, investors in today’s announced round include VCs Seedcamp, Playfair Capital, and the London Co-Investment Fund, which is backed by the Mayor of London.
In addition a number of angels also participated, such as Lord David Young (former Enterprise advisor to the Prime Minister and backer of KashFlow, amongst other ventures), Ricky Knox (founder of digital bank Tandem, and Azimo), Peter Rading (former Head of Global Trading at RBS), Simon Lambert (CTO of Wahanda), and Will Neale (founder of Grabyo).
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