Evan Leaphart is keeping the financial future of the next generation in mind.
Kiddie Kredit
As AfroTech previously reported, through his Miami-based startup Kiddie Kredit, the founder helps children learn about credit building in an entertaining way.
“Children turn into young adults who are thrown into the real world at 18 and given a credit card with no real understanding of how to properly utilize it. This early onset of financial mismanagement leads to billions of dollars of bad debt for lower and middle-class households because of higher interest rates,” Leaphart told AfroTech in 2021.
He added, “Kiddie Kredit is a financial literacy tool that teaches kids (K-8) about credit by incentivizing productivity and good behavior. The premise of the app is that the better a child performs their duties/activities, the better their score. We do this by creating a ‘kredit’ score that parallels traditional FICO scoring models.”
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Refresh Miami reports the idea stems from his recollection of his time as a college graduate, apartment hunting, and being unemployed. It was during these difficult periods that he learned the value of credit.
Through the initial program, Leaphart taught kids in South Florida about finance and credit. As a result of his passion, he created a mobile application that has reportedly helped nearly 12,000 families.
Features
Using Kiddie Kredit, parents can assign their children activities and chores, and their “kredit score” will shift between 300 and 850 once they complete them. Children could also receive “Bamboo Bucks” or incentives through partners such as Equifax.
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“Our mission is to empower credit healthy families. Credit, when utilized properly, is one of the greatest tools to generate wealth. We want to educate about credit responsibly, especially to those who have limited access to capital all in the name of economic inclusion and equality,” said the company on their official website.
$1.4M Investment Round
According to Refresh Miami, Kiddie Kredit raised $1.4 million to embolden its efforts.
Investors include Nueterra Capital, Plain Sight Capital, Fuerza Ventures, and Verve Capital, and NBA’s Dwyane Wade and Baron Davis, who participated as angel investors.
“I was drawn to what Evan and team are working on with Kiddie Kredit. It’s important to give kids a head start and especially on the topic of credit,” Wade told Refresh Miami.
“The app’s innovative approach to credit education, coupled with the leadership and experience of founder Evan Leaphart, has the potential to empower future generations to make informed decisions and set them up for success,” said Marcelo Franco of Verve Capital, according to the outlet.
The funding will support the expansion of the platform’s partnerships and users. Leaphart also intends to expand the concept to teens, but introduce a real credit product.
“We want to own the space of Generation Alpha,” Leaphart explained, according to Refresh Miami. “What we want to be is the domain experts within that space. We’re with them on that journey.”
