Intuit is discontinuing the budgeting app Mint this week, which has turned out to be advantageous for competitor Copilot. Founder Andrés Ugarte shared with TechCrunch that Mint’s closure signals a shift in consumer demand for enhanced features in finance apps.
The CEO of New York-based Copilot launched the subscription-based personal finance tracker in January 2020 as a Mint alternative. Currently, Copilot boasts over 100,000 subscribers, with a significant portion engaging with the app daily or multiple times a week. Approximately 20% of users are considered heavy users, utilizing Copilot between five and 10 times daily.
Ugarte remarked, “This level of engagement is impressive for an app that is not a social network.”
Unlike other personal finance apps that primarily highlight spending categories, Copilot analyzes transactions, including recurring payments, to provide users with a customizable budgeting framework. This approach helps users track their spending and saving habits efficiently.
On average, users save around 5% after adopting Copilot. While this might seem modest, for someone earning $100,000 annually, this translates to $5,000 saved per year. With an extensive user base, Copilot collectively delivers significant savings to consumers.
Beyond Mint
Ugarte, like many others, found existing personal finance apps, including Mint, lacking in functionality. For example, Mint would flag regular rent payments as significant purchases without specifying the nature of the expense, leading to unnecessary alerts to users without providing relevant details.
Reflecting on his experience with various finance apps, Ugarte recognized the complexity of account connectivity, with Copilot users typically linking ten individual accounts. Consequently, he aimed to develop an app that simplifies data aggregation and analysis for users.
Capturing Mint users
Upon Intuit’s announcement of Mint’s closure on March 23, Ugarte and other finance app founders seized the opportunity presented by Mint’s discontinuation. Copilot experienced a surge in users following the announcement, marking it as the company’s most significant day of growth.
This growth trajectory continued, culminating in a $6 million Series A funding round led by Nico Wittenborn’s Adjacent. The new investment brought Copilot’s total venture capital to $10.5 million.
While achieving profitability in 2023, Ugarte responded to user demand for an Android app, prompting the company to seek additional funding to expand its capabilities and accelerate AI and product development efforts.
With plans to introduce Android and web functionalities, as well as enhanced AI features, Ugarte aims to further enhance Copilot’s user experience by providing accurate financial insights through machine learning.
The company targets a year-end launch for these new capabilities, showcasing its commitment to innovation and user satisfaction.
