A pension for kids
Nicolai Galal and Jacob Munk-Stander co-founded Tobi with a mission to give kids the right financial start in life.
But they also wanted to build a company where employees get energy from seeing the positive impact that their work has on people’s lives. Energy they can bring home to be a better parent and a better partner.
“That’s really important to us because there’s far more to life than just work,” says Jacob.
Perhaps surprising (refreshing) to hear from an entrepreneur but this is really what is at the heart of what Tobi is doing: giving parents the peace of mind to get on with the business of being parents, knowing that the money they put aside for their kids is actually working for them.
Tobi is a niche robo-adviser that helps families invest their children’s long-term savings. Once you open an account, you, as well as friends and family, can easily deposit funds that Tobi then invests based on your risk profile and appetite. Similar to how pension works, except for kids.
A queue of 4.5k Danish parents were on the wait list to join Tobi when it launched a few months ago, suggesting they are in the right place at the right time.
Two powerful trends here: firstly the so-called “greatest wealth transfer of a generation” with baby boomers, born between 1944 and 1964, expected to transfer $30 trillion in wealth to younger generations over the coming years in the US alone.
Another is the growing appetite among consumers to invest their savings and a burgeoning category of financial products designed to democratise the access to market investments for ‘normal people’.
“Being a dad, myself I obviously want to make a positive impact on my own child, but if we can do it for other families as well, that’s great,” says Nicolai, who left his job as a design director at Walt Disney in LA to come co-found Tobi with his childhood friend Jacob.
“No one knows what the future holds and whatever your children want to do in the future, Tobi helps them create the savings to get there, whether it ends up being for education, travel or buying a home.”
Hear all about their story, their mission and why the world needs Tobi in the a brand new episode of Founders Stories.
This is the latest edition of Founders Stories, where we sit down with our portfolio co-founders to talk about how they became entrepreneurs, what problem they’re solving and why the world needs what they are building. Catch the whole series here.
About us
Founders is a startup studio based in Copenhagen. Together with brilliant entrepreneurs we build companies that radically improve the way we live and work. We’re behind companies solving everything from the pain of company expenses and banking for freelancers to solving the chronic shortage of educated tech talent in Europe.
