ImpulseSave, the startup that launched last year at Disrupt San Francisco 2012 with a mobile app aimed at encouraging people to put away money in their savings accounts, has been acquired by Betterment, the investment platform for savings, the companies have confirmed to TechCrunch.
It’s a natural combination, as both Betterment and ImpulseSave focus on encouraging financial responsibility particularly among young adults. But ImpulseSave’s technology won’t be incorporated into Betterment at a visible level, at least for now. As of today, ImpulseSave is no longer bringing on new customers, and the service will be shut off completely on November 1.
Here’s a statement from ImpulseSave’s CEO Phil Fremont-Smith on the acquisition:
“We are truly excited to join the wonderful team at Betterment. Their vision for helping ordinary folks make smarter financial decisions is perfectly aligned with our own and we’re thrilled to now help make that happen at Betterment.”
Financial terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed. ImpulseSave, which was backed by TechStars and SV Angel, has five staffers, but at the moment only one is confirmed to be joining Betterment as a result of the deal: ImpulseSave CTO and co-founder John Mileham will become Betterment’s Application Architect. Betterment, which has raised $13 million in venture capital since it was founded in 2008, has 40 full-time staff.
Here’s ImpulseSave founder and CEO Phil Fremont-Smith demoing the company last year at Disrupt: