Debbie Q1 2025 Update: 2 IPOs and 2 Acquisitions

Several fintechs that target low to moderate income have announced IPOs or acquisitions in the last several months:

• MoneyLion (mobile banking and free cash advance) acquired by Gen Digital for $1bn

• Klarna (Buy Now Pay Later provider) files for IPO

• Chime files for IPO

• Brigit (monthly subscription cash advance) acquired by Upbound Group for $460m

The growing interest in the space tells us there is a way to successfully market and monetize this consumer base. We always knew this, but the challenge is in doing it ethically and through aligning incentives between all parties. Most have been successful in offering cash advances (anywhere from $250-$500), however, this comes with its own ethical issues (are subscription fees really just secret interest?) We think MoneyLion and Chime have been really smart here - they have used their free cash advance and secured card products as hooks/bait into deposit-holding customers. More banks should think about how to start bundling their best products to build loyalty.

Debbie is up and running in the Filene Lab, with 3 new CUs joining on board to grow through the Debbie Preferred Partner Network. More and more CUs are looking for new ways to connect with current and new members, and they’re turning to us for help.

We had over 60 CU and fintech execs attend Measure Your Member Acquisition Cost Workshop - the overwhelming interest tells us that this is an area CUs are looking for guidance and information, and our goal is to continue to lead the conversation.

If it costs $400-$500 to acquire a member (similar to Chase/Citi/etc), but you are working with a much smaller marketing budget, the math just ain’t mathin’. It’s time to try something different.

If you missed the workshop, please click here for the recording, and if you’d like to re-read our 2025 MAC Report to see how we benchmarked member acquisition cost across the industry, click the image below or here.

• This is a huge milestone for any seed stage company, and we’re so proud of our team for getting here. Letting you guys under the hood is something we think is important, especially as you get comfortable working with early stage companies (and investing in them 😉).

• With our revenue growth, team member growth, and partner growth, we felt it was time to get a Debbie-fied office (4 walls and all!).

• As part of our growth, we have brought on a new VP, Engineering, Moshe Quantz, as well as a new Product Design, Frank Balluff (bonus, Frank is actually a member of MSUFCU).

  

As always, here are some conferences we’re attending coming up. Let me know if you’ll be there so I can say hello!

• America’s Credit Unions Marketing, PR & Development Council Conference (March 23-26)

  • Rachel will be speaking on how to expand membership through digital channels

• Financial Brand Forum (April 14-16)

  • This is the conference to go to for any innovative financial marketing execs.

• We are completely transforming our rewards system - we will be assigning a dollar value to points.

• This brings more transparency to users regarding what their points are worth, and makes it easier for us to enable points transfers in the future (WIP below)

  

• Our users love our branding, but we want to make it even better and have broader appeal with older generations as well.

• We are refreshing our branding to be cleaner and more sophisticated, but while still retaining some of the fun and whimsy that comes with gaming. (Below is WIP, not yet finalized).

  

nach·es. noun: nachas Nachas is a Yiddish word meaning that you are happy and proud, especially of someone's accomplishments.

An actual, physical Nachas wall now that we have the new Debbie office.

We’re running community game amongst our users throughout April where they compete by FI! All members of the winning FI get a prize (+ bragging rights).

An awesome quote: