Launching year end, PAYMYNT Financial seeks to empower the underbanked-citizens in the U.S. by allowing customers to truly B.Y.O.B, “Be Your Own Bank.” We spoke with Michael, its CEO.
How would you describe your company in a single tweet?
PAYMYNT is a financial growth app combining mobile commerce, cashback rewards, auto-investing & MYNT Coins; a new digital money solution built on the Stellar Network. Let’s #MakeRewardsBetter!
How did it all start and why?
I’ve spent a large part of my career dedicated to preserving the planet. I’m passionate about building a product that successfully helps people reduce their negative impact on the environment. When I first met Steven Mellor, our Chief Product Officer, we began building a mobile application that could help everyday consumers identify his or her carbon footprint. After we started building the application, however, we soon realized we were building something bigger.
We decided – if we’re going to build a product that can help an individual track his or her carbon footprint, we also need to build a product that can help an individual track his or her lifestyle choices. We know the shopping rewards and financial savings industries in our country are deeply fragmented and broken. We began building a unified mobile commerce platform that integrates consumer reward features with carbon offset emissions.
The PAYMYNT App will not only help Americans build a stronger financial future, but it will also help Americans identify their impact on the environment.
What have you achieved so far?
Since we’re building a next-generation financial growth app that improves both the financial and environmental well-being of others, it was important for us to find passionate investors who also share in our vision for a better future. Through successful networking efforts, we completed our first seed round funding with a group of tech-driven entrepreneurs and private investors. Together, we believe blockchain technology and digital currencies are the future of digital commerce.
How will you use your recent funding round?
We’re currently working with over 2,000 name-brand retailers across the United States. Plans are underway to accept the PAYMYNT mobile rewards application at major shopping locations. Our app development team is gearing up for our mobile launch on the Apple and Google Play stores by the end of this year.
Our most recent round of funding will also contribute to adding more members to the PAYMYNT Financial team. We’re excited to announce Katelyn Dobbs, a former financial reporter, and international travel writer, as our new Director of Communications. Katelyn will be assisting with PAYMYNT’s marketing and branding efforts in preparation for our Q4 launch. Currently, we’re interviewing talent from across the country to expand our talented web development team.
What do you plan to achieve in the next 2-3 years?
In the next 2 to 3 years, the PAYMYNT team will be rolling out some new patent-pending features to the PAYMYNT Financial ecosystem. In addition to earning cash back and universal reward incentives, PAYMYNT shoppers will also have access to financial savings and credit lending opportunities. Currently, over half of all Gen Z and Millenials in this country are living paycheck-to-paycheck. These are the people of tomorrow with a combined spending power of 3 Trillion dollars. We’re aligning with a major bank to support a linked Visa debit card with our PAYMYNT Rewards shopping application. Our buy-now-pay-later feature will enable shoppers to pay for big-ticket items while incurring zero interest.
We believe our new fintech features will empower the underbanked-citizens in our country while allowing our PAYMYNT customers to truly B.Y.O.B, “Be Your Own Bank.”
