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The challenge

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What is Venmo?

Venmo is a popular peer-to-peer (P2P) payment app that allows users to send and receive money easily. It operates in the digital payment vertical, competing with P2P payment apps like Cash App, Zelle, and PayPal.

Venmo is primarily a U.S.-based service. To use this app, users must be physically located in the United States, have a U.S. bank account, credit card, or debit card, and have a unique U.S. cell phone number.

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📊 Stats

• Venmo has approx. 80-90 million users in the United States as of 2023-2024.
• Venmo is particularly popular among younger age groups. 50% of Venmo users are between 25 and 34 years old, and 33% are between 18 and 24 years old. </aside>

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🟢 Core Features

• P2P Payments: Users can send and request money from other Venmo users quickly and easily.
• Social Component: Venmo includes a social feed where users can see and share transaction details (though amounts remain private).
• Merchant Payments: The app can be used to pay participating merchants or stores.
• Venmo Balance: Users can maintain a balance within the app for future transactions. </aside>

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⚒️ How it works

Users create an account and their profile to their bank account, debit card, or credit card.

To send money, users select a recipient (either from their contacts or with the help of a search or by scanning a QR code), enter an amount, and optionally add a note or emoji.

Transactions can be set as public, visible to friends only, or private.

Users can transfer their Venmo balance to their linked bank account.

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➕ Additional Services

• Venmo Debit Card: A Mastercard debit card linked to the user's Venmo balance.
• Venmo Credit Card: Offers cash back rewards on eligible purchases.
• Cryptocurrency: Users can buy, sell, and hold certain cryptocurrencies within the app.
• Business Profiles: Allows small businesses to accept Venmo payments. </aside>

❓ The problem

While Venmo has successfully simplified peer-to-peer payments and has a very high adoption rate among young users in the US, its users still face challenges in effectively managing their overall financial health.

• Financial literacy is often low among young adults aged 19-29. 21% of Generation Z members (ages 18-27) and 28% of millennials (ages 28-43) reported that their family or formal education didn't teach them how to build financial knowledge or wealth.
• 70% of millennials live paycheck to paycheck. 32% of Gen-Zers and 46% of millennials reported having more credit card debt than emergency savings.
• Young adults face major financial decisions about postsecondary education, jobs, and careers, requiring careful management of income and expenses and financial planning.

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How might Venmo empower its young adult users to achieve financial wellness by integrating AI-powered financial management tools into its existing platform?

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