Personal finance bot Trim says it’s saved users $6 million — and counting

Since Thomas Smyth and Daniel Petkevich created the chatbot Trim to rid their personal bank accounts of forgotten but costly subscription fees seven months ago, it has helped more than 50,000 people save $6.3 million.

That may be only the beginning.

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Now Trim wants to find more ways to take proactive steps for users. It’s the ability to act on people’s behalf that has helped Trim grow, and new investments will help the company scale impact, CEO Thomas Smyth told VentureBeat.

On July 20, the company announced that its bot will no longer focus on subscription cancellation alone but will become a personal finance chatbot with the ambition to “replace mobile banking,” Smyth said.

The company also announced the closure of a $2.2 million seed round led by Eniac Ventures. Version One Ventures, Core Innovation Capital, and Sound Ventures, a VC firm cofounded by Ashton Kutcher, also invested in Trim.

Add to this that earlier this month Trim announced that its bot, formerly only available via text, is now on Facebook Messenger. Facebook liked this news, featuring the bot in a July 1 blog post.

Smyth plans to distinguish Trim from competition like Abe.ai and MyKAI, from Kasisto, by finding more ways to take proactive steps to handle people’s personal finances.

“Every single personal financial question or decision or transaction, I think it’s pretty clear that it would be nicer if someone else did that for you,” he said. “My ideal personal finance product involves my sitting on the couch and playing Pokémon, while someone else handles everything for me.”

Trim will tell users how much they spent on Uber last month but also when a bill is due or when a person is going to be penalized with an overdraft or late fee.

Smyth envisions Trim taking on a fiduciary role and handling tasks that banks aren’t necessarily incentivized to perform, — think of credit card companies that fail to remind you your bill is due so they can collect a late fee.

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“I think looking for opportunities where the incentive of existing financial providers and their customers are not fully aligned, I think those opportunities are great for Trim and other personal finance startups,” he said.

Trim connects to more than 20,000 banks, including Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America.

Trim has a team of four employees based in San Francisco.