ZELF, a neobank that provides financial services through online messengers, has reportedly secured $2 million through its pre-seed funding round, which was led by Austrian venture capital fund 3VC, with Seed X and Hard Yaka
Founded in 2017, ZELF claims to be the first bank in messengers. The bank’s services work in Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber, LINE, Telegram, and WeChat and uses get full control over their money from the messenger of their choice.
“To send and receive money users create an account for free and within 30 sec get a virtual card, delivered to Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. Besides unprecedentedly fast onboarding new clients enjoy AI-powered voice control over all operations with their money (commands like “Show me my balance”, “Create invoice for 50$”, “ask dad for 100$”, “Show me my expenses for November”) or use ergonomic button interface, all without leaving the messenger.”
According to Verdict, ZELF does not have any physical branches or a standalone mobile app. It is strictly through messengers. The company has also scrapped physical bank cards, stating that customers may receive a digital Zelf card and open an IBAN account in less than 30 seconds.
ZELF will notably be using the funds to expand its services in Spain, Germany, Poland, and Italy as well as establish its presence in the UK and U.S.