FinAi News

No products in the cart.

Subscribe
  • News
  • AI News Tool
  • Data
  • Transactions
  • Events
    • FinAi Banking Summit
    • FinAi Lending Summit
  • Podcast
  • WEBINARS
    • Webinar Library
Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Banking
  • Lending
  • Payments
  • Risk & Security
  • Strategy
FinAi News
  • News
  • AI News Tool
  • Data
  • Transactions
  • Events
    • FinAi Banking Summit
    • FinAi Lending Summit
  • Podcast
  • WEBINARS
    • Webinar Library
BAN PLUS
Log In
No Result
View All Result
FinAi News
No Result
View All Result

Savings app Digit is focusing its growth strategy on Gen Z

Jake MartinbyJake Martin
July 9, 2019
in Banking, Strategy
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on Facebook

Savings app Digit is pinning its hopes on millennial and Gen Z customers who are storing up funds for a rainy day.

“We serve a pretty diverse population relative to most finance and fintech companies, and the majority of our customers are actually women,” said Vishwas Prabhakara, Digit’s chief operating officer. “In terms of income, they are mostly up and coming. They don’t make hundreds of thousands of dollars yet, on average, but they’re at the early end of their careers and working their way up.”

The app, which launched four years ago, was an early mover among digital personal finance platforms. It automates savings and debt payments on behalf of customers through a proprietary algorithm. The company claims it has helped users save more than $1 billion since its launch in February 2015, and the average customer is saving $2,500 per year through the app.

Digit generates revenue from a subscription model, which Prabhakara touted for its simplicity and transparency. “We want to provide value to our customers that they can feel, and that can be measured in terms of the impact we’re having on them,” he said. “If we can’t do that, then those customers will turn away, and we’ll know that and feel that.” The company charges $2.99 per month after a free 30-day trial.

When asked about Digit’s growth strategy, Prabhakara noted that customers increasingly are asking for more help on debt reduction, long-term investing and bill payment. “For us, the challenge is how to identify the most important things and build them as fast as possible,” he said. “I think the philosophy around that will always be to listen to our customers’ or potential customers’ wants and needs and continue with our ‘set it, forget it’ approach to automation, so we can work in the background on their goals.” However, beyond an automated feature to let customers save and pay off credit card debts, it has no plans to roll out other new features.

In May, Digit rolled out a feature powered by JPMorgan Chase’s real-time payments network that allows users to transfer their savings into their checking accounts within 30 minutes, for a $0.99 fee. Previously, users would wait up to three days after putting in their request for a standard ACH transfer, although that free option is still available. PayPal-owned P2P payments app Venmo similarly lets users pay a 1% fee to move their money to a debit card within 30 minutes.

Prabhakara declined to comment on Digit’s customers numbers, but he said the app is “growing rapidly.” Digit is ranked ninth among free finance apps on Apple‘s App Store, sandwiched between Bank of America‘s mobile banking app, ranked eighth, and Wells Fargo‘s mobile banking app, which rounds out the top 10.

Screenshot of Digit’s savings app, provided by Digit.

Digit also uses BBVA USA‘s Open Platform, a banking-as-a-service platform through which the bank’s APIs are allowing Digit to pull funds from their customers’ bank account. Customers then can deposit those funds in a pooled savings account managed by BBVA to pay bills or return funds to third-party bank accounts as desired.

Also see: BBVA USA reels in 50k new customers with Open Platform

Prabhakara said Digit operates only in the U.S. right now and will remain primarily focused on the U.S. market for the foreseeable future. He said Digit’s workforce currently is around 50 employees, but the firm is adding new hires weekly.

As digital money management tools like Qapital and Goldman Sachs-owned Clarity Money grow their customer bases and banks add similar features to their mobile apps, Digit’s automated savings tool is no longer a unique offering. When asked whether he is worried about competitors’ efforts to build similar capabilities, Prabhakara said banks aren’t necessarily motivated to do so.

“Ultimately, banks can build things that are somewhat similar to what we’re doing, but often there’s not an incentive for them to do that,” Prabhakara explained. “If we keep our heads down and deliver financial health in an effortless way — with an impact people can feel and that can be measure — it’s going to be hard for larger institutions to keep pace with the types of innovation we’re working on.”

Bob Meara, senior analyst at Celent, has said Digit should have been rendered unnecessary by the banks themselves. As he wrote in a recent blog post:

“I have no beef with Digit. My discomfort is with why Digit exists in the first place. We have apps for saving, apps for spend tracking, apps for P2P payments and apps to tell our friends what we spend on and elicit their reaction. We have credit card apps, crowdfunding apps and, of course, mobile banking apps. Why yet another mono-function app? Because banks are squandering the opportunity!”

Tags: BBVADigitJPMorgan ChasesavingsstartupsVenmo
Previous Post

Backed by MUFG, payments app Kyash wants to get into consumers’ mobile wallets

Next Post

GoCardless partners with DocuSign as it grows its US payments business

Related Posts

Photo credit Mike Mozart: https://www.flickr.com/photos/39160147@N03/14742853276/
Banking

Charles Schwab launches 2 AI tools in Q2

July 21, 2026
Leveraging codeless architecture to improve successful merger integration
Strategy

COBOL modernization gets AI upgrade, but scale remains elusive

July 21, 2026
A Microsoft data center in Aldie, Virginia, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. Microsoft Corp. is scheduled to release earnings figures on October 29. Photographer: Lexi Critchett/Bloomberg
Strategy

Data centers on track to suck up a fifth of US power use by 2035

July 21, 2026
Next Post
Image via Pexels

GoCardless partners with DocuSign as it grows its US payments business

EMERGING FINTECH DIRECTORY

Emerging Fintech Directory

The Buzz Podcast

SPONSORED

Build an Antifragile Strategy to Outperform the Market

July 14, 2026

How AI and Product Experts Turn Fuzzy Requirements Into Focused Dev-ready Roadmaps

April 19, 2026

Is Your Technology Supplier There for You?

April 1, 2026

  • About Us
  • Help Center
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Terms
  • ADA Compliance
  • Advertise

 [wt_cli_manage_consent]

Connect

twitter linkedin podcast podcast podcast
© 2026 Royal Media
No Result
View All Result
  • NEWS
    • All News
    • Banking
    • Lending
    • Payments
    • Risk & Security
    • Strategy
  • AI News Tool [Beta]
  • DATA
  • TRANSACTIONS
  • EVENTS
    • FinAi Banking Summit
    • FinAi Lending Summit
  • PODCAST
  • WEBINARS
    • Webinar Library
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • Log In / Account

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Unlock This Article

Create your free FinAi News account to access this article and stay informed on how AI is transforming financial services including banking, lending, payments, and risk.

Yes, I'd like to receive FinAi News updates, breaking news, and exclusive AI insights for financial services leaders.

Continue Reading with FinAi News Premium - Less than $2/Day

Upgrade to FinAi News Premium for unlimited access to news, insights, trends, and intelligence on how AI is transforming financial services including banking, lending, payments, and risk.
Upgrade to FinAi News Premium Subscription
No Result
View All Result
  • NEWS
    • All News
    • Banking
    • Lending
    • Payments
    • Risk & Security
    • Strategy
  • AI News Tool [Beta]
  • DATA
  • TRANSACTIONS
  • EVENTS
    • FinAi Banking Summit
    • FinAi Lending Summit
  • PODCAST
  • WEBINARS
    • Webinar Library
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • Log In / Account