A personal finance app owned by buy now, pay later stalwart Zip, will shut down next month, 10 years after its inception, with a mission to help Australians better manage their money.

The Pocketbook team informed users on Thursday that it had made the “difficult decision” to shut down the Pocketbook app and web service from August 5, while thanking them for “all the ongoing support and feedback road”.

Founded in Sydney in 2012 by Bosco Tan and Alvin Singh from a single spreadsheet, Pocketbook aimed to make personal finance “ridiculously simple” by allowing users to monitor their bills, minimize bank charges and late, and track their budget and savings goals.

The startup quickly attracted hundreds of thousands of users, was named a finalist in several startup competitions, and began raising capital in 2014.

It was acquired by Zip in 2016 in a $7.5 million deal, but continued to operate as a full-fledged app under the leadership of Tan and Singh, who in 2017 decided to meet to negative comments by posting a video with the team reading. say customer feedback.

According to information published on the Pocketbook site, the startup had more than 800,000 users in 2020.

While information posted on the company’s website does not indicate that customers will be moved to the Zip ecosystem, it does indicate that Pocketbook is closing “so that we can focus our efforts on reinventing and rolling out some of the features you love in Pocketbook, through the Zip app”.

Similarly, when Zip unveiled its updated brand in July 2021, it said in a press release that it “plans to integrate features from its 5-star Pocketbook personal finance app into the Zip app.”

This would allow Zip customers in Australia to “track spending across multiple bank, credit and Zip accounts, giving them a holistic view of their financial status and upcoming spending,” the company said at the time.

Pocketbook users will be able to continue using the app and website until August 4, after which their accounts will be closed. The app will no longer be available for download from August 5, and users will not be able to log into the mobile app or website.

The company said all personal data provided by users will be deleted starting August 5, including names, email addresses, mobile phone numbers, and personally identifiable account and transaction details.

Users who wish to keep a copy of their own data can do so by extracting a CSV file before August 4.

“We’re proud of the product we’ve built, but more than that, we’re grateful for the role you’ve played in making it grow and improve over the past 10 years,” the Pocketbook team said.

SmartCompany has contacted Pocketbook and Zip for comment.

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