Bobber Lands $1.1M for Social Banking

Seattle-based Bobber Interactive, which makes a “gamified” software platform to help banks attract young people to money management, has raised about $1.1 million in Series A financing. That’s a bit more than half of the offering Bobber has in the market, according to an SEC filing today. Bobber says the round was led by PEAK6 Investments, with participation ffrom Dove Capital Partners. Bobber is led by co-founders Eric Eastman, Scott Dodson, and John Bito. As Xconomy’s Greg Huang wrote last year, the idea is to make money management fun and social for kids—hopefully landing them as customers for life, or at least a long time. The company sees its potential market as some 30 million young consumers who play games on Facebook, representing an estimated $200 billion in discretionary income each year. Bobber plans to start testing its product on Facebook in the months ahead, and also is working with partner Plastyc to roll out an associated payment card.

Author: Curt Woodward

Curt covered technology and innovation in the Boston area for Xconomy. He previously worked in Xconomy’s Seattle bureau and continued some coverage of Seattle-area tech companies, including Amazon and Microsoft. Curt joined Xconomy in February 2011 after nearly nine years with The Associated Press, the world's largest news organization. He worked in three states and covered a wide variety of beats for the AP, including business, law, politics, government, and general mayhem. A native Washingtonian, Curt earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. As a past president of the state's Capitol Correspondents Association, he led efforts to expand statehouse press credentialing to online news outlets for the first time.