Background and Initial Launch

In 2018, Eting and Moura embarked on creating Flourish Savings, a free mobile app blending savings accounts with gaming elements to promote positive financial behavior. After a year of prototyping, they launched in May 2019. Flourish targeted financial wellness nonprofits, university financial aid offices, and scholarship foundations to reach its audience with minimal marketing budget. Early success was evident as the app garnered over a thousand users within months, with active users saving an average of $213 in the first three months and engaging with the app two to three times per week.

The B2C app worked as a savings account that users would connect to their bank and transfer money in. In the app, there was a gamified journey where they would evolve and unlock points as they started and grew their rainy day fund.

The points were used to play games - just like it's possible to buy lives in Candy Crush, you could use your points to keep playing and enter raffles that would choose a lucky user to get a gift card. "It was like a game that we never lose." said a Flourish Savings app user.

Our users also mentioned that they wish the app existed from when they were younger. They were excited to see how Flourish Solutions would play an important role in financial education for more generations.

Challenges in Monetization

To expand their reach and ensure sustainability, founders needed a monetization strategy that wouldn’t burden low and middle-income users. Initial ideas included partnering with local businesses for sponsored rewards and advertising lower-cost offerings based on user transactions. However, these required a substantial user base, which was unrealistic short-term. Marketing the app as an employee wellness benefit was another option, but it proved inconsistent with their mission due to lack of financial incentives for employers and mismatch with target demographics.

Shift to B2B Model

By late 2019, Flourish noticed growing interest from financial institutions, especially in Latin America. This interest highlighted a promising business model. Flourish’s first significant engagement was with Sicoob, Brazil’s largest credit union, to help retain younger members by enhancing their digital experience. A successful short-term pilot with Sicoob demonstrated the potential of Flourish’s technology to support institutional clients, marking a strategic pivot towards a B2B model.

In late 2020, Flourish secured BancoSol, a leading Bolivian microfinance institution, as its first corporate client. BancoSol aimed to increase digital engagement and savings among its clients, many of whom were microentrepreneurs. They launched "GanaSol," leveraging Flourish's gamification technology within their digital banking app. The gamified system encouraged digital transactions, savings, and financial literacy. The results were compelling: a 20% increase in savings deposits and a 266% rise in digital transactions among GanaSol users (we had around 11,000 with 65% of retention rate at early 2023), also including a 21% impact in app logins, a 48% change in bill payment transactions, and a 36% change in timely loan repayments through the app. Even a temporary suspension due to regulatory issues showed a significant drop in engagement, proving the system's effectiveness.

Scaling and Rebranding

Encouraged by the success with BancoSol, Flourish rebranded to Flourish Fi, reflecting its expanded vision of serving financial institutions across Latin America. This strategic shift allowed Flourish to tap into a rapidly growing fintech market, targeting mid-sized banks, credit unions, and fintech companies seeking to enhance user engagement and financial inclusion.

Our engagement platform is licensed by over 10 financial institutions in 6 countries across the Americas. In the United States our technology have already been integrated with Tricolor, and Gabriel Money, in Bolivia Banco Sol and Banco Economico have our rewards engine integrated, in Mexico we integrated with Sura and Treo as partners, in Brazil we are integrated with Qista and Yours Bank, and we have a partnership with the Strive Community, an initiative from Mastercard Center of Inclusive Growth to adapt our technology for small and micro entertainers that have been integrated with Justa, Juvo and Will Bank.

Flourish's journey from a consumer-focused savings app to a B2B fintech provider underscores the importance of adaptability and strategic pivoting. By aligning with financial institutions that shared their vision, Flourish not only achieved financial sustainability but also amplified their mission of promoting financial well-being and inclusion. The case of Flourish Fi exemplifies how a user-centric approach, coupled with strategic partnerships and adaptive business models, can drive significant impact and growth in the fintech landscape.