Introducing Eco: a single balance for spending, sending, saving and making money

With $26MM in new funding, led by a16z Crypto.

Eco puts your money back to work for you. We’re not a bank, checking account, or credit card — we’re building something better than all of those combined.

With Eco, you earn up to 5% annually on your deposits and get 5% cashback on spending at Amazon, Uber, and more. Plus, soon: pay bills, pay friends, and much more — all from the same, single wallet.

Those rewards sound too good to be true, but actually aren’t. They’re made possible by cutting out the inefficiencies and misaligned business models of the existing financial system. To do so, we need to build a completely new product, free from the past.

To power that, we’re proud to share that we’ve raised more than $35 million, including over $26 million in a recent round led by a16z Crypto with participation from Founders Fund, Activant Capital, Slow Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Tribe Capital, Valor Capital Group, and more than one hundred other funds and angels. Previously, we raised $8.5 million led by Expa and Pantera Capital.

Here’s a partial list of some of the people we’re fortunate to partner with:

After a successful alpha test with millions of dollars deposited, the Eco App is now available.

How are these benefits possible?

Today, more parties than you can imagine are involved in every financial transaction you make. Each one of those parties — banks, credit cards, processors, and more — takes fees every step of the way. Plus, banks have convinced you to hold your money in a dozen different places, charging you even more fees on top of that.

It’s impossible to fix these problems within the existing paradigm. The only way out is to build a new system. By cutting out all those inefficiencies, we’re able to build a single wallet where all your money stays where it belongs: in your pocket.

There’s a lot to unpack there. Read on to learn more, or hit the signup button above to experience it for yourself.

Why now?

Today, we sit at a generational moment — and a unique one in which an idea like Eco can emerge.

For the first time since the 1970s, we are all losing purchasing power by leaving money in our bank accounts. Because of this—just as we did in the 1970s when money market accounts, credit cards, and individual brokerage accounts became mainstream—we’re seeking alternatives to existing financial products.

But today, there’s a second trend at play: trust in institutions (both financial and governmental) is plummeting. Not only is everyone looking for alternatives, but we’re open to new ideas from non-institutional players. Even more than that: we want to use upstart products.

And then you add the last piece of the puzzle: the dramatic acceleration of innovation in fintech and cryptocurrency. This new technology is what enables a solution like Eco to appear outside of the existing system.

So, if you’re asking “where should I put my money?” like everyone else, we have an answer: in Eco, where it (rightfully) will be put back to work for you.

What does an “aligned” financial product mean?

We want your money to work for you. But it’s just as important to build a sustainable, customer-aligned business that can serve you forever.

Every time you do anything in Eco — save, spend, refer friends — you earn Eco Points. They don’t do much today, but one day they will. Our business model is to try to make these Points as useful as possible over time.

Imagine a world where Amex executives got paid in Amex points, or Chase employees in Chase points. What do you think they’d do?

We think they’d probably try to do the right thing by their customers — they’d try to make those points as useful as possible.

And then imagine if that world expanded: if those companies paid their vendors in points. If they got paid by their customers in points. A world where, perhaps, that points system became an entirely new economy. What would happen then? And what might the flaws be with Amex or Chase doing that, and how could they be solved?

We’ll share thoughts on those questions soon.

So how do we get there?

While improving existing systems is certainly a technological and economic challenge, it’s also a social challenge first. Our priority is to build a product that offers you dramatic benefits and improves your life — and only after that does anything else matter.

We hope you’ll join us and #takeyourcashback.

And if you’re one of the many people who still think this is too good to be true — but are willing to read about why it might not be — check this out: How is this not too good to be true?