No. MoneySwell has not taken any outside investment. We are 100% privately owned, built from the ground up.

Why did we build MoneySwell this way? Here are a few reasons.

  • Our time and energy is limited. We want to focus these limited resources on building a great product, not on convincing investors to give us money.
  • We like sustainable growth. Investors often expect growth at all costs, even if it means failing in the long-term. But the truth is, there’s plenty of room for all kinds of financial software. We don’t need to reach the “finish line” first or “crush the competition.” We just need to build a product that works for us, and find others who it works for too. How’s that for an honest answer?
  • We can build it this way. The skillset of the team is wide enough that we are able to build a useful tool without giving ownership and decision-making power to investors.
  • We have experience working for venture-backed companies. From what we’ve seen, these environments have a lot of waste, a lot of hype, and more often than not, a lot of sad faces at the end of the journey. The future isn’t guaranteed for any business no matter how it’s built. But by being privately owned, at least our successes and failures will be ours alone based on our vision for what success looks like.
  • Privately funding felt safest. We’re not massive risk takers. Like our customers, we have financial obligations like mortgages, day care for our kids, and a whole lot more. Privately funding allowed us to earn income from other sources as we built the business. Investors don’t typically support this model. But for us, it was the financially responsible way to go when we got MoneySwell off the ground.

Would we ever accept venture capital funding? Possibly. Not all VC firms are the same nor do they treat every project they invest in the same. While we really want to start our business without VC funding, there may come a point where the best way to grow our product and support our customers is by accepting funding…with the right investing partner. We’ll let you know if we reach that point.