Picturewealth app that lets you take a 'welfie' pic of your finances raises $1.2m

A Perth start-up that claims to offer a snapshot of your finances – dubbed a “welfie” – has raised $1.2 million, led by the financial planning group that will distribute its app first.

The funding for PictureWealth shows the excitement around personal budgeting fintechs created by the likes of Acorns and Pocketbook – both of which have raised millions in Australia – continues to spread.

PictureWealth claims to allow users to aggregate information on all their assets, debts, expenses and insurance policies, viewable on one PC or smartphone screen at one time.

“Until now, there hasn’t been a single space where people can view a picture of their personal wealth. They’ve had to refer to a combination of apps, websites, policy documents, financial advisors, spreadsheets and other outdated tools to get a holistic view of where they stand,” said co-founder David Pettit.

Users can ask questions inspired by this view to an artificially intelligent chatbot the start-up has built in Facebook, dubbed Financial Literacy IQ (FLIQ).

“You want to know how much you spend a month on coffee, it will tell you in seconds,” claimed co-founder and investor Neal Cross, whose day job is chief innovation officer at DBS Bank based in Singapore.

The platform is able to scan the descriptions on linked bank accounts and where a name is not recognised as a cafe, a user can categorise it so the system learns and applies for all users in future.

Networking tool

The platform will also prompt users with education and suggestions about matters such as portfolio construction, wills and life insurance. These are meant to point them in the direction of financial planning networks, which PictureWealth is approaching to be its initial distributors.

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Source: Picturewealth app that lets you take a ‘welfie’ pic of your finances raises $1.2m | afr.com