Greenlight scored a major victory in its first venture into white-labeling its technology with Monday’s launch of Chase First Banking, a new in-app feature powered by Greenlight for JPMorgan Chase that allows parents to manage their children’s money.

“Chase is using the same platform our consumer business is using, so it’s really a seamless partnership for us,” said Johnson Cook, Greenlight president and co-founder. “There is a debate of, ‘Do we want to equip competitors with the consumer product?’ We just decided to embrace bank partnerships.”
Atlanta-based Greenlight, which was founded in 2014 and launched in 2017, made inroads with consumers through its direct-to-consumer banking app aimed at parents and their kids. Cook said although the company plans to continue building out its bank partnerships after the Chase news, Greenlight is not pulling back on its consumer product, which has gained over 2 million customers so far.
Greenlight’s strategy with bank partners is to open its APIs and let partners build what they want off them, so banks can choose what Greenlight features they would like to keep. Although there is always risk when startups white-label a product that they also offer directly to consumers, Cook said Greenlight’s new B2B offering hasn’t become a distraction. He added that partnering with banks can extend Greenlight’s reach. Chase, for example, has over 40 million mobile active customers and $3.2 trillion in assets. Cook didn’t disclose the names of other banks with which Greenlight is discussing partnerships. The company has raised just under $300 million in total funding.
See also: Greenlight moves into investing with $215M Series C
Chase First Banking, which is free for Chase customers and available in the mobile app, offers many of the features Greenlight has been using to attract families. Children receive their own debit card with spending parameters set by parents, who can set chore lists, send allowances, monitor spending and lock the cards. Children as young as 6 years old can manage their chore list, see their own spending and work toward savings goals, and then move on to Chase’s account for teens at age 13.
By folding Chase First Banking into its existing mobile app, Chase is taking a different approach than with its stand-alone banking app Finn that shuttered last year. Finn only lasted one year before the bank decided a separate brand wasn’t worth it. “Chase customers don’t want a separate brand or experience,” a Chase spokesperson said in an email. “They want to have the tools to manage their money in one place.”
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