A Silicon Valley-based fintech app that allows workers to access their wages before their paycheck hits their bank account has acquired Chicago startup Tip Yourself.
Earnin, a heavily venture-backed startup founded in 2012, announced this week that it acquired Tip Yourself, a savings app that encourages people to reward themselves for accomplishing a goal like sticking to a diet or finishing a project. The startup, founded in 2015, created an iOS app that allows you to transfer funds from your checking account into a virtual “tip jar.”
Earnin has integrated the Tip Yourself feature into its app and plans to shut down the standalone Tip Yourself app after June 30. Tip Yourself founders Josh Feinberg and Mike Lenz have joined Earnin to lead the company's savings product initiatives.
“We believe that our community is looking for new ways to achieve financial security, and creating a tool that helps them save easily is an important part of that," Earnin CEO Ram Palaniappan said in a statement. "Tip Yourself will help Earnin community members put more money aside for the future.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Earnin has raised more than $190 million in venture funding to date, and it counts top VC firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Spark Capital among its investors. Rapper Nas is also an investor in the company.
Earnin's core product, called Cash Out, allows users to access money they've already worked for without having to wait for their bi-weekly payday. The startup doesn't charge fees or interest on the payments; instead, it asks users to voluntarily tip to use the service.
With the new Tip Yourself feature, Earnin will allow its users to save money in virtual Tip Jars that they set up for specific goals, like a trip or home improvement projects.
"Tip Yourself is changing the way people think about saving money in a similar way to how Cash Out changed the way people think about the pay cycle," Palaniappan said.
