Grifin, an investment app that simplifies investing by automatically purchasing stocks in brands where users regularly shop, announced on Wednesday that it has secured a $11 million Series A funding round, bringing the total amount raised to around $22 million.
Alongside the announcement, Grifin also revealed it has surpassed 500,000 registered users, indicating that its approach to investing resonates with a lot of users. Grifin also claims approximately 1 million total app downloads and 100,000 monthly active users. The company declined to share its valuation.
The investment and user growth mark important milestones for Grifin, reflecting investors’ confidence in the company’s business model and its capacity to disrupt traditional investing methods. The stock market can be intimidating for many Americans — reportedly only 62% of U.S. adults own any stocks directly.
The new capital will be invested in building out the company’s software engineering and UX design teams, as well as product development. Notable upcoming features include an AI chatbot that Grifin is working on, as well as family plans designed for parents who want to introduce their young adult children to investing.
Grifin, founded in 2017 by Aaron Froug, Bo Starr, and Robin Froug, aims to simplify investing for those who find it intimidating. Initially based on the concept of “Stock Where You Shop,” the company evolved in 2024 to an adaptive investing model that automatically invests $1 from users’ transactions into stocks related to their purchases. For instance, if a user shops at Walmart, $1 is invested in Walmart stock. Users can also manually adjust their investment amounts. The model has proven successful, as evidenced by Grifin’s internal data showing a 234% increase in spending at Walmart six months after users bought its stock.
Another approach Grifin takes to simplify investing is by providing educational material that offers users daily insights into financial literacy. The company plans to expand its educational offerings and develop an AI chatbot that can summarize articles on the platform and provide quick answers to user questions. The chatbot will also provide insights into individual accounts, answering queries such as, “When did I make this investment?” or “When did I receive a dividend?”
The timing of the rollout is currently unknown, as Grifin wants to ensure that the chatbot delivers accurate answers before its launch.
“AI can be an amazing feature, but it can also sometimes not give the correct things,” Froug, who is Grifin’s CEO, told TechCrunch. “So we’re just making sure that we’re dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s before we launch something like that.”
The educational offerings are particularly important because of Grifin’s user base. Many of its users are women between their late 40s and 60s, a group that traditionally has less confidence in their investing knowledge. There are also younger women users aged 18 to 24, which could be why Grifin is considering adding budgeting tools that give users insights into their spending.
One of the most requested features is family plans, which would enable users to share their Grifin accounts with family members and introduce investing to younger users. Many younger generations have been hesitant to invest in the stock market. Although the market has improved in recent months, there are still risks involved.
“One of the cool things that we want to do with family plans as well is [allow] parents or grandparents to help fund the accounts for kids or the grandkids, so there isn’t too much financial stress,” Froug added.
The round was led by Nava Ventures with participation from Alloy Labs, Draper Associates, Gaingels, Nevcaut Ventures, and TTV Capital. In addition to the funding, Freddie Martignetti, partner at Nava Ventures, joined Grifin’s board.
