Swedish startup Gimi launches a prepaid Mastercard for kids and teenagers

Today, Swedish start-up Gimi launches The Gimi Card; a child-friendly Mastercard® that allows parents to preload money onto a card for their kids to use in stores and online.

The card, which is linked to the Gimi app, gives young people the opportunity to spend their own money, while parents get both transparency and control through the Gimi app.

In Sweden, more than 10,000 parents are already on the waiting list for the new card.

Philip Haglund, CEO and founder of Gimi, says, “We want to provide children with a card to spend their money with whilst educating them to become smart consumers.

“Just like driving a car or learning how to ride a bike, you need to practice to become good at something. The Gimi card is the first product of its kind to launch in Sweden and was developed to help children practice handling money before they step out into the adult world, where they are faced with more complex financial decisions,” continues Philip.

Gimi is one of the world's most widely used pocket money apps, with over one million downloads. The app is used to manage weekly money and chores, but also has educational content and functions teaching children about the basics of money.

The Gimi card, which is produced in cooperation with Mastercard, is available for 39 SEK a month.

Peter Olbing, Head of Business Development for the Nordic and Baltic countries at Mastercard, comments, “It is important that young people are included in our financial society and get access to digital money. Gimi's work on spreading financial education is something we strongly believe in and want to support.”

The Gimi card is now available for those who live in Sweden and is set to become available throughout several other European markets within the next 12 months.