Jassby and Its Store for Kids
Many neobanks have been releasing fintech apps for kids and teenagers recently, but Jassby’s been operating in this sector for a few years already. Its fintech app was designed to help children learn about money. Parents can pay their children their allowances through the app and then their kids can use their income to spend money in the Jassby store. Here are a few other ways that Jassby distinguishes itself from its fintech peers.
Curated Store for Kids
Jassby doesn’t just give parents spending controls, it offers them a store full of curated products. Parents can feel safe because Jassby finds safe products for their children to buy. Many dangerous products are age-restricted, but some of them aren’t. And the store page also displays products that are trending on Tiktok, a social network that’s very popular with younger users, which shows that Jassby understands its audience. Children will actually want to purchase these curated products.
It’s not clear whether Jassby earns an affiliate commission from the products in its shop. But this is a topic I’ve discussed before in my article about Their Perfect Gift. This British gift card startup also opened a gift shop for its customers. Like the Jassby store, it offers deals on a curated selection of products, but Their Perfect Gift’s store is designed for adults. Specifically, it’s designed for corporate employees who receive its gift cards as holiday rewards from their bosses.
By opening a store, a neobank can earn affiliate commissions in addition to the fees it earns for processing transactions and providing financial services. This is important because many neobanks lose money on their main services and are subsidized by investors. Without their subsidies they’d have to raise fees on their users and many of them have done so already. But Jassby’s less likely to do this because of its store.
Virtual Debit Cards
Jassby also offers a virtual Mastercard that kids can access through their smartphones. When the app launched in 2017, users could only purchase the products in the curated store. But now, parents can give their children permission to shop elsewhere while still retaining a level of control over their purchases through the app. The virtual debit card is Apple-only for the time being and it operates through the contactless Apple Pay app.
Unlike other neobanks and fintechs, Jassby doesn’t offer a physical debit card. That might be reassuring for parents who are worried that their children will lose the debit card, which is a bigger risk for children then it would be for adults. And the virtual card is also environmentally friendly. If Zelf can claim that not issuing a physical debit card protects the environment because it means less waste, so can Jassby.
The trade-off, of course, is that parents have to give their children an iPhone or an iPad to use the app. These mobile devices may cost more than comparable Android products. And some parents don’t want their children to use mobile devices at all until they grow up. But for parents who do want their kids to be familiar with things like contactless payments and virtual debit cards, Jassby provides a way for them to learn about these topics.
Budget Control for Parents
The main benefit of an app like this is that parents can track how their children are spending their money, which isn’t possible when they’re given a cash allowance. The web page shows that parents can set up a specific budget for food purchases that’s separate from other budget categories, which indicates that Jassby supports separate spending pools like the other neobanks with budget-planning features. Parents can use the app to view individual meals their children purchased.
The Jassby Store Makes the Difference Here
The Jassby store is what makes this fintech app unique. Many neobanks offer similar budgeting, expense tracking, and financial education features for kids. And cashback rewards at stores like Starbucks are also widely available from other debit card issuers. Virtual debit cards can also be found elsewhere. But the Jassby store offers discounts on popular children’s products that are being promoted by Tiktok influencers. And that could be more compelling for the kids who use the app than financial education features that were designed for their parents.
