At the age of 14 Jacklyn Rome I’ve seen firsthand how divorce can affect families and how financial disputes can affect children both during and after the process.
The experience stayed with her. As an adult, after launching new products at Uber and Blue Apron, Rome developed the concept for their startup: ensemble. The expense tracking app was quietly launched on the App Store in 2020 to help ease tension between co-parents and ensure children’s needs are not negatively impacted by a divorce.
Today Ensemble comes out of the shadows with $ 3 million seed funding from TTV Capital, Lerer Hippeau and Citi Ventures.
Simply put, Ensemble’s mission is to improve the lives of co-parents and their children by giving parents an optimized way to track shared expenses.
“Most of the middle parents either work out the finances themselves on an ad hoc basis or are dependent on child support payments. However, child support only covers food, shelter and clothing, which is only half the cost of raising a child, ”stresses Rom. The other half of the expenses, including medical bills, after-school activities, transportation, etc., are often discussed by fellow parents through text messages and spreadsheets.
Ensemble founder and CEO Jacklyn Rome. Image courtesy of Ensemble
The ensemble started a six-month pilot trial in January 2020 when the credit-first version of the app went online. In April 2020, the version with double functionality, where two parents could connect their accounts, went live.
Since the App Store launched last spring, Ensemble has seen “strong organic growth and recommendations” from its users, according to Rome. Ensemble users track an average of more than $ 1,000 per month in shared expenses for their children.
About 30% of Ensemble’s downloads were organic when people discovered the app on the App Store, she said.
“Even with the most amicable divorces, money is the number one thing that divorced parents argue about. In more contentious divorces, it is often used as a lever between two emotionally charged people who have no other tools at their disposal, ”said Rom. “We have set ourselves the goal of developing a product that eases the tense communication about common finances and meets the differentiated needs of separated parents.”
The story goes on
At the moment the app is free. Ensemble plans to begin monetizing using funds from its initial round.
Finally, the company plans to build a paid subscription model. In the long term, there are also plans to offer a range of financial products and especially banking products in addition to the cost tracking app, for example for shared credit cards with strict spending controls, Rom told TechCrunch.
“Ultimately, we want to help ensure that the children of divorced parents do not have any financial disadvantages when it comes to building for their financial future,” she said.
Rome founded the ensemble as Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) Contributed, a New York-based venture studio supported and funded by D10X from Citi Ventures Program.
“One of the key takeaways that Citi gave us was that as a bank, it is incredibly difficult for them to get new customers because people don’t change banks often,” said Rom. “One of the few situations in life where people regularly switch banks is divorce. And that started the thought process around the pain points people are feeling from their divorce, especially when it comes to finances. “
Luis Valdich, chief executive of venture investing at Citi Ventures, says the bank has “been tracking” how individuals’ financial needs have evolved in light of social trends, while identifying potential investment opportunities in startups that are underserved Businesses deal with needs.
“A growing gap is that divorced or separated parents can track and manage shared expenses,” Valdich said. “Ensemble solves this problem by striking the optimal balance of ease of use, visibility, and empathy for modern day co-parents, while minimizing the need for back-and-forth communication. While it’s early days, we’ve found that the user experience is much better. ” to the alternatives on the market, and Jacklyn brings a unique perspective on the challenge Ensemble is trying to solve. “
And as long as he couldn’t Speaking of specific plans between Citi and Ensemble, Valdich said that Citi Ventures’ approach has always been to invest in companies to plan future collaborations.
“We pride ourselves that the majority of our portfolio has been commercialized within Citi and / or with Citi customers, and we will certainly look at ways to work together when it is mutually beneficial as always,” added Valdich added.
Meanwhile, TTV Capital partner Mark Johnson said that his company has been investing in fintech for over 20 years and that it is clear that people are looking for digital tools to make communication and finance easier.
He called the Ensemble app “an elegant and simple platform” that fulfills these needs of fellow parents.
