Berlin, June 8, 2020 – Vivid Money, the mobile banking platform to spend, save and invest, today announces its launch in Germany. The Berlin-based company aims to help people to make more of their money by combining the all-in-one mobile-first approach with a full-service package. Using the Vivid Money app, users can open an account for free in just a few minutes and manage their finances easily and intuitively via their smartphone. With their account comes a free metal Visa debit card for secure payments and cash withdrawals. In addition to a classic bank account, Vivid Money also offers numerous services that help customers to manage and grow their money securely and conveniently. These include cashback programs, sub-accounts in foreign currencies and, in the near future, investment products. Germany is the first and, for the time being, the only market in which the Vivid Standard and Vivid Prime account plans will be available. Expansion into other European countries is planned for the near future.
"We are living in a time when people are receiving no or even negative interest rates for their deposits and high transactional costs. Even today, they are still suffering from poor service in banking and investing. With Vivid Money, we want to change this. We enable our customers to organize their financial life easily, securely and in all its different facets – from spending to investing – all in one app and individually tailored to their needs," says Artem Yamanov, co-founder of Vivid Money. "We want to educate our customers how to grow their money, providing them with the right tools to save automatically. With Vivid Money, they have numerous options to grow their wealth without having to open a separate account or deposit account with different providers for each service. This way, they can easily start with stock trading and start to take control over their financial lives."
Vivid Money is working together with solarisBank, which provides the fully licensed Banking- as-a-Service platform, and with Visa as an exclusive payment technology partner for Europe.
“We are excited to welcome Vivid Money as our newest partner. By trusting our proven banking-as-a-service platform, Vivid Money is well prepared to conquer the European banking market. With our modular approach and an easy-to-integrate, scalable infrastructure we reduce time to market significantly and enable us to compose an attractive offering that allows them to grow fast”, says Roland Folz, CEO of solarisBank.
“We are proud to be the exclusive launch partner for Vivid in Europe and to support their entry into the German market”, says Albrecht Kiel, Regional Managing Director Central Europe at Visa. “The payment behavior in Germany is currently changing rapidly – consumers increasingly want to pay digitally – mobile and contactless. This is why the launch of the mobile-first Visa Debit card by Vivid comes exactly at the right point in time. I am convinced that the joint product proposition by Visa, Vivid, and solarisBank will further drive the adaptation of digital payments in Germany.”
Save and invest comfortably and travel without unnecessary fees
The core of Vivid Money is the simple and intuitive operation of the app, from which numerous services can be accessed. These include the so-called Money Pockets: free sub-accounts with individual IBANs to save money for specific purposes – alone or already in a few weeks together with others. Using drag and drop, amounts of money can be moved to individual Pockets within seconds.
Pockets can be loaded not only with euros but also in over 100 different currencies. Even before the foreign currency is actually used, Vivid users can change their money at the lowest live exchange rate free of charge. Besides, the user's Visa debit card can be assigned to all Pockets via drag and drop. Also, when paying in a foreign currency, the appropriate sub-account is automatically selected, and the amount is deducted there – all without any exchange rate charges. One Pocket can also contain several foreign currencies.
In addition, Vivid Money will allow customers to invest in stocks and ETFs mainly free of charge from their pockets with just a few clicks. Without high additional fees, they can invest in international, listed companies such as Google, Tesla, or Apple, and create an ETF savings plan. The company initially starts without savings and investment options. However, these will follow in the course of the next months.
Rewards of up to 10% on purchases from numerous stores
Vivid Money customers can enjoy a comprehensive cashback program – with up to 10% cashback and a maximum total of 20 euros per month. At the launch, purchases at online supermarkets such as REWE, Lieferando, BoFrost, Eismann, HelloFresh and Too Good To Go are reimbursed with 5% cashback. 10% cashback is awarded on the monthly subscription costs of streaming services like Netflix, Prime Video or Disney+ as well as the platform Nintendo Switch Online. Vivid Money customers will also receive a 10% cashback on purchases from the online shops of the Thalia and Hugendubel bookstores.
In addition, all Vivid Money customers can participate in the so-called Champion Cashback Program. All customers visiting a restaurant or café will be compared within two weeks of their spending with their Vivid card. The person who has spent the most money in the restaurant or café at the end of the two-week period will become the Champion of it for the next two weeks and receive 10% cashback on any amount spent there during that period. If the person remains Champion during this time, the period is extended for another two weeks and so on. Only when someone else has spent more money does the predecessor lose his or her Champion status.
Standard and premium account available
Vivid Money offers customers two account models. They can choose between the free Vivid Standard account and the premium version, Vivid Prime, for €9.90 per month. The first three months are free for everyone and each customer receives the free metal Visa debit card upon registration. There is no identification data on the card: no card number, no expiry date, no verification number. All this data is securely stored in the app and thus reliably protects customers in the event of card loss. In addition, customers can create a new credit card number including expiration date and verification code at any time, and connect it to the card. Vivid Prime offers more free cash withdrawals, as well as additional cashback offers for payments abroad.
More information on the account plans can be found here.
Following its launch in Germany, the company plans to expand into other European markets this year.
List of services that Vivid Money offers:
About Vivid Money
Vivid Money is the first financial service platform that combines all your daily money needs in one app. Whether it’s spending, saving, or investing – Vivid Money offers an easy, flexible, and transparent solution to grow your money. The company's mission is to provide customers throughout Europe with a superior banking and investment experience and to offer a wide range of financial services (including savings accounts, multi-currency accounts and stock exchange) without unnecessary fees. Vivid Money was founded in 2019 by Artem Yamanov and Alexander Emeshev in Berlin and consists of an international, highly qualified team of more than 130 employees. TCS Group Holding PLC, a leading provider of online financial and lifestyle services via its Tinkoff ecosystem, has agreed to become an anchor seed investor.
For more information, please visit vivid.money