Financial literacy is one of the most important skills one has to pick up in their life. This week’s startup, Bloom, educates teens and allows them to invest.

⚾ The Elevator Pitch

Teens and investing usually don’t go hand in hand. But 77% of Americans regretted not investing earlier. 40% of Gen Z investors were encouraged by their parents to invest. The trend is clear: more younger people are investing and the ones who don’t regret it down the line. The issue is, how can teens even get started with investing?

Bloom taps into something called custodial accounts, which allows parents to open brokerage accounts for for their children. As a result, teenagers 13 years and older can buy and trade stocks and ETFs – while learning financial tips from interactive lessons in the app.

👇 The Drop Down

💻 Site: https://www.bloomapp.com/

🌱 Founded: 2020

📈 Trend: Fin-tech

🦶 Traction: YC-backed, 200,000+ teens investing on the app, featured in Fast

Team: Sonny Mo (CEO) | Sam Yang (CPO) | Allan Maman (CMO)

🔍 Why we like it

1. 📚 Financial literacy for future generations

Managing money is perhaps one of the most important skills one can learn. Yet unfortunately, basic financial literacy is not taught in schools. Teaching teens how to effectively invest and save their money from an early age can set them up for success far down the line. And there is no better way to teach kids than to have them actively engage with finance and investing hands on. Bloom is the platform for parents and teens to invest – both in stocks and also themselves.

1. 🍎 Approachable and digestible lessons

Bloom provides 80+ interactive lessons to get teens started and guide them on their financial journey. From the most basic concept such as “What is a stock even?” to more open-ended questions such as how to shape your portfolio, Bloom teaches its users how to approach finance and investing step by step. Their friendly UI makes it approachable and fun for people of all age groups, teens and adults alike.

1. 🌱 Large demographic of users

Approximately 13% of the total US population is between the age of 10-19 – that’s over 42 million people. Teenagers are already chronically online, spending hours between social media, streaming, and gaming apps. Bloom taps into this demographic, but provides an educational and exciting alternative. At the same time, Bloom provides parental controls, giving teens freedom to invest but also keeping parents in the loop.

🤝 Get Involved with Bloom

• Download the app

• Bloom is hiring a founding engineer