The online upstart challenger to Quicken seems to be gathering momentum.
Here’s their media release, hot off the PR wire…
Leading Personal Financial Management Web Application to Expand Reach, Functionality and Service Offerings
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 5 /PRNewswire/ — Mint.com (http://www.mint.com), the fresh, easy and intelligent way for people to manage and save money online, today announced that the company has raised $12 million in a Series B financing round led by Benchmark Capital. All of the investors participating in the company’s Series A financing in April, 2007 also invested in this round, including Shasta Ventures and First Round Capital.
Mint.com is the largest and fastest growing personal financial management application on the web. Since launching its public beta in September, 2007, Mint has signed more than 160,000 users, is now organizing $10 billion in transactions, and has identified more than $100 million in potential savings. Mint has also significantly enhanced the product since its introduction, adding budgeting, a social spending comparison tool called “SpendSpace,” and support for investment accounts such as brokerage, mutual fund, IRA and 529 plans.
“In our first six months, we’ve demonstrated that our free, simple and powerful money management web service can gain rapid acceptance and deliver real value — nearly half of our users tell us that they’ve already changed their financial behavior as a result of using Mint.com.” said Aaron Patzer, CEO and Founder. “We’re ready to further accelerate our growth and product development, and are delighted to find in Benchmark a partner which shares our passion for improving the personal financial lives of Americans. We look forward to tapping their deep expertise and experiences with major brands in their investment portfolio including: eBay (EBAY), AOL (AOL), E-Loan (EELN), Amazon (AMZN) and Prosper.”
With its investment in Mint.com, Benchmark Capital expands its portfolio of Web 2.0 companies, including: Bebo; Ofoto (EK); Yelp; and Zimbra.
“Mint.com gives people visibility and control over their finances in a unique and powerful way,” said Bob Kagle, General Partner of Benchmark Capital. “We are excited about the company’s ability to help people make better financial decisions and improve their lives.”
Mint.com is designed to make managing personal finances effortless — and it’s free. It takes less than five minutes to get started; users register anonymously using only a valid email address, and then securely connect to their online bank, credit card and investment accounts. Mint.com then does the rest; users never need to import or synch any data. Mint.com securely downloads transaction data from more than 5,000 financial institutions on a daily basis. It applies patent-pending technology and proprietary algorithms to compile and categorize transactions, provides users with easy-to-maintain budgets, and allows users to compare their spending to others, anonymously.
Mint.com’s advanced alerting system proactively lets users know about unusual or potentially suspicious activity, low balances, bank fees and charges, and upcoming bills. Beyond showing users where their money goes, Mint.com also provides specific, individualized suggestions that can save them real money. The average user sees $1,000 in savings ideas in their first, five minute session.
About Benchmark Capital
Benchmark Capital was founded in 1995 to help talented entrepreneurs build great technology companies. Benchmark’s partners take a team-oriented, labor-intensive approach to venture investing to deliver a superior level of service to the firm’s portfolio companies. Benchmark’s portfolio includes franchise companies such as eBay, Juniper Networks and Red Hat. Managing more than $3 billion in committed venture capital, Benchmark focuses on investing in entrepreneurs with original ideas. For more information on Benchmark, visit its web site at http://www.benchmark.com/.
About Shasta Ventures (http://www.shastaventures.com)
Shasta Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on helping build technology enabled companies that offer unique products and services to their customers. Shasta Ventures is located in Menlo Park, CA and manages over $200 million. Tod Francis, Managing Director, serves on Mint’s Board of Directors. Mr. Francis has over 20 years’ experience with consumer companies and has invested previously in many successful consumer internet businesses, including: Blue Nile, BabyCenter, WeddingChannel, LoopNet and LogoWorks.
About First Round Capital (http://firstroundcapital.com)
First Round Capital is a prominent investor in early stage companies, including: Aggregate Knowledge, Jingle Networks (1-800-FREE411), Krugle, Riya, StumbleUpon, and VideoEgg. First Round Capital has offices in Philadelphia and San Francisco. Rob Hayes, Partner, serves on Mint’s Board of Directors and Josh Kopelman, Managing Partner, serves as Board Advisor.
About Mint.com (http://www.mint.com)
Mint.com is the fresh, easy and intelligent way for people to manage their money online. And it’s free. Designed to be effortless for the user, Mint.com takes less than five minutes to set up. Users register anonymously using only a valid email address. Mint then does the rest, securely downloading transaction data from more than 5,000 bank, credit card and investment accounts on a daily basis. Users never need to import or synch data. Mint applies patent-pending technology and proprietary algorithms to categorize transactions provide a unified view of all account activity; alert users to low balances, bank fees, upcoming bills, and even potentially suspicious account activity; and give users personalized suggestions for significant savings opportunities.
Mint’s management team includes experienced executives drawn from the ranks of Charles Schwab & Co., eBay, Expedia, Intuit, PGP and other leaders in the finance, security and software spaces. Investors include top venture capital firms and prominent individuals associated with companies including Blue Nile, Google, Intuit, PassMark Security, PayPal, Yahoo! and others.
