Personal Finance Startup Charlie, Partners with frog to Humanize Finance

SAN FRANCISCO—Charlie, a text-based AI penguin helping people who don’t speak finance worry less about money, and global design and strategy firm, frog, have partnered to create the most trusted financial confidante for those struggling with money. The goal? To drive positive financial behavioral changes and ease concerns. In short—to humanize money by building a friend who’ll keep an eye on spending, flag danger, and find easy money, watching people’s back to help them make informed decisions and take on any financial stress.

“Charlie recognizes that when appropriately leveraged, powerful new technologies don’t just help us to improve current customer experiences—they enable us to deliver entirely new ones,” said Ethan Imboden, Vice President of Creative at frog. “The team’s ability to strategically color outside the lines, and their emphasis on making their customers’ priorities their own, make them a great fit for frogVentures™ investment, and the long-term partnership it represents. You’ll be seeing a lot from this penguin.”

As a frogVentures™ portfolio company, Charlie is supported by frog’s decades of experience in financial services, and comprehensive capabilities in launching new ventures. frog helped craft every aspect of Charlie’s brand, visual identity and implementation, working directly with Charlie’s founding team to design Charlie’s personality and visual appearance and how he interacts with thousands of complex financial questions on a daily basis.

Charlie and frog decided on the distinctive personification of Charlie as the ‘prodigy penguin,’ to convey what’s missing among existing financial solutions: trustworthiness, approachability, and super intelligence. With this in mind, frog and Charlie decided on a penguin—a character who brings empathy, playfulness, and simplicity to financial empowerment, and can build a relationship with anyone looking for some help with their money.

Charlie recognizes that to create lasting behavior change, it needs to connect with its audience emotionally, not only intellectually. After exploring how people initially interact with Charlie—from signing up to their first question – frog and Charlie established the key moments Charlie builds trust, best conveys information via chat, and how interacting with Charlie should all look and feel.

“We needed a partner who not only understands the financial services world and the startup world, but also human psychology and why people behave the way they do. frog delivered,” said Charlie CEO, IIian Georgiev. “They matched our passion with their own and created an unforgettable experience. They’ve created a way for Charlie’s AI super intelligence and unrelenting hunt for better money decisions to feel accessible and understandable.”

Charlie is analyzing close to $5 billion of transactions, helping pay down over $50 million in debt, and is growing every day. For more information about Charlie’s capabilities, technology, or career opportunities, visit http://www.hicharlie.co