Are the kids alright? Covering fintech typically gives me a pretty bleak answer to the age-old question. From prediction markets to crypto to zero-day options, every new financial product targeted at Gen Z seems to fall under the category of “economic nihilism,” or the idea that everything is rigged, so you might as well try to get rich quick.
Mine, a credit card and financial planning company founded by two Gen Z college dropouts, is attempting to buck the trend. Mine is announcing $14 million in fresh funding in a 359 Capital-led Series A, with participation from existing investor Kleiner Perkins. Cofounders Carlo Kobe and Scott Smith are confident they can convince their generation to stop spending their hard-earned money on betting whether the U.S. will invade Greenland or Eric Adams’s latest memecoin. “The same trend that makes people want to invest into crypto or gamble money in a prediction market…is a pretty big tailwind for us,” Kobe told me. “Young people are really longing for hope and increased certainty that they indeed can achieve financial independence.”
