Andy Bromberg, Eco CEO and co-founder of Coinlist, has taken to Twitter to slam an aspiring rival that is apparently copying their business down to the deck. Eco is an app-based Fintech that is a neobank that offers bank-like services without being a bank. Its savings feature currently pays out 2.5% interest and up to 5% if you refer your friends. Eco last raised money in 2021 capturing $60 million to pursue its vision. Apparently, Eco’s early success attracted some competition.
Bromberg states that “Copycats are usually subtle but Eco has one that isn’t”
To quote Bromberg:
“It started when an investor forwarded me a pitch deck uncannily similar to Eco’s. Eco’s key value propositions: up to 5% APY rewards, 5% cashback and the world’s first open system rewards currency.
Then we discovered more: Eco’s sophisticated funnel has paths built for every persona. We found many submissions trying to discover every path… all connected to the copycats.”
He states that their CTO was using Eco and replicating his experience at his own firm. And apparently, this person also inquired about getting a job at Eco…
Bromberg says they realized that “doing espionage under their own names might not be a good idea,” so then they created aliases.
“Their site just went up, and there’s *so* much more They stole our blog posts. They stole our marketing copy. They copy/pasted our T&Cs and Privacy Policy. They copied our funnel questions. They stole our idea of checking if users have Metam*sk. There’s too much to post.“
Bromberg does not mention the company by name but it is easy to figure out. He does note that taking inspiration from others is part of the game but this goes beyond that:
“… there is a line. It may be hazy. But the copy-and-pasting, immaturity, lying, and espionage in this thread crosses it. And when that line is crossed, it needs to be called out.”
Copycats are usually subtle. But Eco has one that isn’t.
Imagine a company spent all day copy-and-pasting *everything*…
…while raising from investors like Y Combinator and Eniac Ventures (who I bet have no idea)
Well, we tracked it all. I’ve never seen anything like it 👇
— Andy Bromberg (@andy_bromberg) May 23, 2022
