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If you’re a parent, one of the hardest things to deal with in a divorce is still talking to your ex about your children’s finances.
And, according to 2015 reportOf the 13.6 million adoptive parents in the United States, only 50.2% had a formal or informal child support agreement. Even in those cases, most agreements don’t cover expenses like medical bills and extracurricular activities, among other things.
This means that divorced parents spend a lot of back and forth about who pays what, how, and when. Finances, when you are co-parenting, are also an issue in the best fit for divorce.
The daughter of divorced parents herself, Jacqueline Rome Forward was founded in 2020 with the aim of helping divorced and divorced parents manage their joint expenses more easily. Rom, who previously led new products at Uber and Blue Apron, said she created the app not only to ease the headache of parents, but also to reduce family stress in general. As she can attest, children suffer greatly from being caught in the middle when their divorced parents fight over money.
today, in the future — formerly known as Ensemble — has raised $9.7 million in Series A funding led by Atlanta-based TTV Capital to advance its mission. Lerer Hippeau, Citi Ventures, Correlation Ventures and Gingerbread Capital participated in the financing. Formerly a Los Angeles-based startup Raised a seed fund of 3 million dollars In March 2021
Since then, Onward has launched several new features, including the ability to pay your roommate through the platform, track installment payments and other non-child-related expenses, such as joint mortgages or phone bills.
For example, a co-parent may take a child to the dentist for $120. You can upload a photo of the receipt, and the other co-parent will be notified to see all the details about the expense. If necessary, the two can negotiate through the app and settle the expense through a subsequent platform with a connection to a payment provider such as Venmo or Zelle.
Rome said the company has grown significantly to nearly 100,000 installations. So far, Onward has leaned towards social media as a marketing tool, including using TikTok as a platform. By partnering with influencers who are also co-parents, Rome says the startup has raised awareness of its offerings.
Remaining pre-paid. According to Rome, the company plans to start monetizing early next year through a “bundle” of new financial products, including linked credit cards. Down the line, a paid subscription model may also be built in the future.
Image Credits: in the future
Incorporating transparency into the forum is also a priority, Rome said.
“Men often say transparency is their biggest pain point — they may not believe the costs are legitimate,” she told TechCrunch. “You can see receipts in our app and finally get third-party verification of where each transaction took place with our card.”
The new capital goes into building these products. More testing of new marketing channels And it will increase the current head count of 10.
While there are a number of fintechs in the broader tech family, such as Greenlight, Step and Acorns, Rome believes there is a “t”.in a green space in this market.”
“There are 50 million co-eds in the United States, and they represent a huge, untapped market,” she said. Rome speculates why: “The market may be considered a little less sexist, or people in it are less likely to find a company.”
TTV Capital has doubled its investment in Onward, with partner Mark Johnson describing the app as “brilliant in its simplicity”.
“Jacqueline and her team have really listened to fellow developers who are using the app – and have been rolling out new updates and features based on their needs,” he wrote in an email. “We are proud to support more co-parents as they grow to help navigate their unique financial circumstances.”
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