One, a digital banking platform targeting middle-class families, launched its private beta today and announced a $17 million Series A fundraising round. With its credit products and shared accounts, One aims to create deep relationships with middle-class families that have finances too complex for other neobanks. 

“The middle class is being squeezed in many ways,” said Bill Harris, One’s chairman and the former CEO of Intuit, PayPal and Personal Capital. “Banks have left many of their bread-and-butter customers behind. There’s nothing new or innovative being offered.”  

One customers can create different savings and spending sub-accounts, or “pockets,” in the app, and can invite others to access them. Customers can message one another right in the shared account, which Harris said works well for family members, partners or even roommates. He said this messaging ability makes it easier to discuss money because financial information is already top of mind.  

Customers can also move money between the different accounts in the app, and those who have paychecks direct deposited can have a set amount put into a long-term savings account designed to mimic a traditional 401(k). One’s partner bank is the Everett, Wash.-based Coastal Community Bank. 

The platform comes with a card that customers can switch between a debit card and a credit card directly in the app and customers can also get personal loans, which One underwrites based on a variety of factors, including customers’ income. Harris said the amount is ratioed from customers’ paychecks, but in general the personal loans are in the thousands of dollars with interest rates in the low teens. He said such loans offer more robust solutions for middle-class families than the smaller loans offered by competitors.  

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One opened its app to early-access sign-up today. Although Harris couldn’t say exactly how many customers have used the platform so far, he said the number is in the high hundreds and the company aims to be generally available to all consumers by early summer. 

While the startup generates revenue through interest on its credit products and interchange fees, the savings and spending accounts are free to use. The $17 million in Series A financing adds to a $9 million seed round, and came from Foundation Capital, Core Innovation Capital and Obvious Ventures. Harris said the money will help with a mixture of organic and paid marketing.   

Brian Hamilton, the founding CEO of the BBVA-owned business banking platform Azlo, will serve as One’s CEO. Hamilton also spent more than two years as a senior vice president at Capital One.  

One is launching into a crowded field of digital banking startups. Chime, for example, has 8 million customers while Varo Money has over 1 million. N26, Monzo and Revolut all have plans to grow their U.S. customer numbers as well. Despite the stiff competition, Harris said One is better positioned to offer a full range of services to its target demographic.  

“Fintechs are offering neobanks that are just cards attached to an app,” Harris said. “They’re good products, but they’re geared toward young people with simple financial lives and needs.”  

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