Financial Empowerment Startup Goalswell Announces the Closing of a $1.5 Million Seed Round

Round was led by Andrew Nikou, CEO of established private equity firm OpenGate Capital, who will join Goalswell's board

The funding will be used to help the company soft launch in Canada, conduct several large-scale pilots, and prepare for its global launch this summer 

PASADENA, Calif., May 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Goalswell, Inc. today announced the closing of $1.5 million in seed round funding led by Andrew Nikou. Mr. Nikou is the founder and CEO of OpenGate Capital, a Los Angeles and Paris-based private equity firm that was founded in 2005.

Research has shown that financial literacy alone does not drive long-term behavior changes. At a time when close to 70% of Americans do not have enough to retire and student debt exceeds $1.7 trillion, financial empowerment is more important than ever. Founded in March of this year and based in Pasadena, California, Goalswell seeks to help high school and college students develop healthy financial habits by leveraging the latest insights from behavioral science and cognitive psychology research. Led by Dr. Amanda Lash, the team's senior cognitive psychologist, Goalswell blends social goal setting with interactive and gamified learning of financial literacy to drive learning by doing.

"Developing healthy financial habits at an early age has never been more crucial," said Andrew Nikou. "Goalswell goes beyond teaching students financial literacy and actually helps them discover their own habits and behaviors will lead them to financial success. Most importantly, the gamification, competition and community aspects of Goalswell's not only differentiate it from other services, but also ensure that the lessons it teaches really resonate with its target demographic at this early age."

"We are honored to have Andrew, who shares our passion and belief in instilling healthy financial behavior at an early age, join Goalswell as an investor," stated Walter Yuan, CEO of MobLab, the parent company of Goalswell. "In addition to the capital infusion which will help us bring this innovative platform to market, he brings us financial acumen, an unparalleled network of potential resources, and practical business advice that I have no doubt will be immediately accretive to the company. I know I speak for the entire company when I say how excited we are for this next phase of our growth."

As a result of the seed round, Dan Goldstein, a renowned computer scientist and cognitive psychologist from Microsoft Research will also join the Goalswell board with Mr. Nikou and Mr. Yuan. Best known for his experimental work with real-world products on a large scale, Mr. Goldstein brings additional domain expertise in behavioral finance and deep know-how in information and choice architecture design to the team.

About Goalswell, Inc.
Goalswell, Inc. is going beyond financial literacy to teach learners of all ages how to develop healthy financial habits by leveraging best practices based on behavior science and cognitive psychology research. Goalswell follows the same guiding principle of learning by doing for learners to practice personal finance management and social accountability in a mobile app on iPhone® and Android devices later this summer. Goalswell is a wholly owned subsidiary of MobLab, Inc. For more information please visit: https://www.goalswell.com

About MobLab
MobLab, Inc. is the EdTech leader in interactive behavioral games and their applications in education and career assessment. The company was founded in 2011 by a pair of Caltech scientists, Stephanie Wang and Walter Yuan, based on the concept that learning through experiments—similar to what has always been done in biology, physics or even psychology—could also be applied to the study of more abstract subjects such as economics, business strategy, or the social sciences in general. The experiments, which can take the form of games, produce real-time analytics that empower teachers to engage students in data-driven discussions on how their behavior relates to theory. For more information please visit: https://www.moblab.com.

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SOURCE Goalswell, Inc.

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https://www.goalswell.com