From the international market for international students and new immigrants in the United States, Cheese has positioned itself as a “challenger bank”
learned, Cheese announced that it has completed the investment of millions of RMB seed rounds. The investment led the investment by Amplify.LA, Idealab and executives of several executive companies in the Fintech field (Acorns, Payoff, Aspiration Bank, GreyCroft Ventures).
EarnCheese founder Lian Runxiong Ken said that EarnCheese.com is a service in the United States. The “challenger bank” for international students and new immigrants.
First, what is the Challenger Bank? The concept of Challenger Bank originated from the huge Anglo-American financial system. After the 2008 financial crisis, the four major US banks (JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank, and Bank of America) occupied an absolute monopoly position, and their service and product quality were often criticized.
Therefore, in recent years, a number of new banks, also known as Challenger Bank, have emerged in the financial industry, claiming to be subverting the way traditional banking financial institutions operate. These new banks focus on creating simple but competitive products. These products often provide transaction-free transfer transactions, have lower service fees, and have many consumer cashback offers, which are very attractive to consumers. Based on this model, in the past year, new banks have become the darling of venture capital. Among them, several new banks such as Nubank, Brex and Chime have even surpassed the $1 billion valuation.
Talking about the reasons for the company, EarnCheese founder Lian Runxiong believes that how to use his limited funds to complete his studies is a problem he and his friends have been facing and thinking about. The convenience that these new banks can bring is very good for their international students and new immigrants.
However, in the United States, even if there is good credit at home, there is no way for international students and new immigrants to apply for a Social Security Number (SSN) and establish a credit history in a short period of time, resulting in their inability to apply for a new bank. The dilemma of these high-quality products can only choose traditional non-interest, non-return, high-cost banking products.
In addition, as the number of US students increases, (According to data published by the US Department of Homeland Security, more than 1 million students studied in the United States in 2018 ), Ken believes that this market has space and development potential. Moreover, international students need to use debit cards or credit card daily consumption, and the market demand exists and has not been met.
Cheese Debit Card
Therefore, the first high-interest cashback debit card, tailored for American students, was born. In addition to Chinese students, the United States currently has nearly 50 million immigrants and is a target customer group for Cheese products.
The main features of EarnCheese’s flagship product, the Cashback Debit Card, include:
· 1%-3% interest
· 0.5% to 1% cashback for each purchase
· Help international students establish credit scores before they can get SSN
· Free withdrawals from more than 30,000 ATMs across the US
· Free of charge for international wire transfer
Features of Cheese Account
Compared to traditional US bank savings accounts, Cheese’s savings account not only saves all account fees, but also high deposit interest and consumer cashbacks, which is equivalent to earning $280 per year for users. So how does EarnCheese achieve revenue? According to Nafsa statistics, international students from all over the world spent 39 billion in the United States in 2017-2018 The dollar is huge. When users use the Cheese debit card, EarnCheese will get the share from the payment system and get the proceeds.
After, EarnCheese returns a percentage of the revenue to the user in a cashback manner. At present, Cheese supports cashback for every purchase, and the most frequently used consumption scenes (paying tuition, purchasing books, booking tickets) have a maximum return of 1%.
Ken believes that the core strength of EarnCheese lies in its industry’s high entry threshold and the strength of its founding team. Financial business involves a large amount of funds and risk management, and the regulatory norms are cumbersome and rigorous. Ken’s team frankly stated that they spent nearly a year and a half preparing for preliminary research and product design, and established a strategic partnership with a top 20 US bank to ensure compliance with their products and services. Although the Cheese debit card is launched and managed by EarnCheese, the account to which the user has registered for the Cheese Debit Card will be automatically managed by the official partner bank. This account will be automatically opened at the official bank at the same time as the debit card is registered. The user’s funds will be deposited directly into the bank account and guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Each account can receive up to $250,000 in insured amount to ensure the security of the funds.
EarnCheese founding team has experience in studying abroad, and deeply understands the difficulties and confusion faced by foreign students studying abroad. In addition, the team has been working together for more than a year and a half. After three transformations, the project has also confirmed its goal of serving people in a foreign land. EarnCheese’s team features are actually good at product design and getting customers. In the team, the product designer plays a pivotal role, and Ken has also participated in and led the construction of the two unicorn company’s customer model, which is good at transforming consumers. Therefore, even if some of the profits are currently transferred to users, it is still possible to maintain a healthy growth through the rapid marginal cost of the customer.
Although the company only has a debit card, Ken believes that this product best meets the needs of international students and new immigrant groups. In the future, EarnCheese does not rule out the expansion of other businesses, and even set up a CheeseBank.
Cheese debit card is expected to be available next year. At present, users have a warm response to the Cheese debit card. 300-500 people join EarnChees every day.On the waiting list of e.com. This round of funds will be used for team building and product promotion in the market.