Closing the personal finance app Pocketbook owned by zip

Company-owned buy-now, pay-later personal finance app Zip will shut down next month, 10 years after it was founded with a mission to help Australians manage their money better.

The Pocketbook team informed users on Thursday that it had made the “difficult decision” to shut down the Pocketbook app and web service as of August 5, while thanking them for “your support and feedback along the way.”

Founded in Sydney in 2012 by Bosco Tan and Alvin Singh from a spreadsheet, Pocketbook aimed to make personal finance “ridiculously simple” by allowing users to monitor their accounts, minimize bank fees and late payment penalties, and track your budget and savings goals.

The startup quickly attracted hundreds of thousands of users, was named a finalist in several startup competitions, and started raising capital in 2014.

It was acquired by Zip in 2016 in a $7.5 million deal, but continued to operate as a separate app under the leadership of Tan and Singh, who in 2017 decided to address the negative feedback by releasing a video of the team reading the evil customer comments.

According to information published on the Pocketbook website, the startup had more than 800,000 users in 2020.

While information posted on the company’s website doesn’t indicate that customers will be moved to the Zip ecosystem, it does say that Pocketbook is shutting down “so we can focus our efforts on redesigning and introducing some of the features you’ve come to love in Pocketbook, through the Zip app.” “.

Similarly, when Zip unveiled its updated brand in July 2021, it said in a press release that it “plans to integrate the functionality of its 5-star Pocketbook personal finance app into the Zip app.”

It would allow Zip users in Australia to “track spending across multiple bank, credit and Zip accounts, giving them a holistic view of their financial position and upcoming spending,” the company said at the time.

Pocketbook users will be able to continue using the app and website until August 4, after which their accounts will be closed. The app will not be available for download starting August 5 and users will not be able to log in to the mobile app or website.

The company said all personal information provided by users will be deleted starting Aug. 5, including names, email addresses, mobile phone numbers, and personally identifiable account and transaction information.

Users who wish to keep a copy of their data can do so by extracting the CSV file before August 4th.

“We’re proud of the product we’ve built, but even more, we’re grateful for the role you’ve played in growing and improving over the past 10 years,” said the Pocketbook team.

SmartCompany has contacted Pocketbook and Zip for comment.

More to come…