New fintech startup PrizePool, which combines online banking with a monthly sweepstake designed to incentivize personal savings, has picked up $4.25 million in seed funding.
"It's a new way to save money, and hopefully incentivize folks to save money, for those unexpected expenses," CEO and co-founder Frank Chien told Cheddar.
PrizePool will guarantee $50,000 worth of prizes each month, including at least one $25,000 sum given out to a single winner. The rest of the prizes begin at $2 and go up.
"The way you enter is simply by saving money," Chien said.
The entrepreneur stressed that user deposits will be held by Evolve Bank & Trust, a commercial bank with a footprint in Arkansas and Tennessee.
"So your money is FDIC insured and risk-free completely," he said. "We actually run the entire program under sweepstakes law, so we're completely compliant and eligible in all 50 states."
The startup is also promoting how users can further incentivize each other to save through a system that rewards referrals with a 10 percent bonus on the new user's winnings.
"We're making savings a more shared experience," Chien said. "Every friend or family member that refer to PrizePool gives you more chances to win."
The seed funding will help PrizePool develop its software and pay for a marketing push, he said.
Chien was also behind the education-technology startup LearnSprout, which Apple acquired in 2016. The tech giant at the time was developing educational tools on its iPad product to compete with Chromebook in serving classrooms.
LearnSprout appears to have since been absorbed into the larger company.
Starbucks is scheduled to report its fiscal first quarter 2022 earnings Tuesday, February 1 after the bell. The coffee giant is expected to report revenue of nearly $8 billion and earnings per share of 79 cents. Starbucks has seen a solid recovery in demand since the beginning of pandemic lockdowns, but is now facing a unionization push, labor shortage, and the Omicron variant. Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to give a preview of Starbucks earnings.
GM is scheduled to report its Q4 earnings after the bell on Tuesday February 1. Wall Street expects a miss as the automaker navigates the global chip shortage, which has hit car sales hard. Investors are looking for an update on production, as well as outlook for the electric vehicles that GM is investing billions to bring to market. Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iseecars.com, joined Cheddar to give a preview of the automaker's report.
Recent data reveals that streaming giants are struggling to retain subscribers in the months following a major release.
According to data from Antenna, subscriber trends show that users will subscribe to a given streaming service just to watch a particular show, and then cancel those subscriptions shortly after. This comes as the streaming space continues to heat up as new entrants crowd the space. Jon Christian, Founding Partner + Digital Supply Chain Leader at OnPrem joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
As airlines continues to face massive pilot shortages, United Airlines is opening a training academy for future pilots. United projects that the academy will train around 5,000 new pilots by 2030. David Slotnick, Senior Aviation Business Reporter at The Points Guy joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Stocks opening mostly higher to close out a wild week on Wall Street. It comes as investors continue to digest comments from the Federal Reserve, as well as the latest slew of earnings. Gene Goldman, Chief Investment Officer at Cetera, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Jim Lacamp, Senior VP of Investments at Morgan Stanley, recaps the headwinds markets faced over the last four weeks and what to expect from this month's Jobs report.
Stephanie Akin, Politics Reporter for CQ Roll Call, breaks down
Senator Manchin's donation pool, and highlights what this support means for the conservative Democrat as well as the Republican party.
Julie Gillespie, Trading Analyst at TipRanks, breaks down Apple's record-breaking quarter and highlights areas of the business where the tech giant may see potential growth throughout the year.
The global oil benchmark surpassed $90 for the first time in more than seven years. This comes as growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine add to concerns about the already-tight market. Jay Hatfield, Chief Investment Officer at ICAP, joined Cheddar to discuss what this benchmark means for the oil industry, and what might happen if Russia does invade its neighbor.
The EU relaxed its Covid travel restrictions for vaccinated individuals among the union's 27 member states, doing away with testing or quarantine requirements for travelers. This comes soon after the World Health Organization said the omicron variant could help make the pandemic more manageable. The new rules take effect February 1st. Bryce Conway, Founder, 10xTravel joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
