PHL Inno's weekly "Startup Spotlight" feature highlights founders and new businesses cropping up in the region.
The startup: Card Curator, a website and app that makes personalized recommendations for what kinds of credit cards its members should use to reach goals, like cash rewards or airline miles
Founded: 2018
Home base: Philadelphia
Founder: John Garner is an MBA student at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania who left his job as a volatility trader to build the platform. Garner was inspired by the realization that he could travel internationally for free by using points and miles from select credit cards. So far, he's visited 82 countries.
Running a startup while earning an MBA is a balancing act, Garner said, and doesn't leave him much time to socialize.
"It's been a lot of fun, it's a massive challenge, but I've always found that I'm pretty good at managing my time and allocating it efficiently," he said.
The product: Card Curator uses its proprietary algorithm to maximize users’ credit card rewards. It selects cards based on where users spend their money, how many cards they want to have, their specific goals and available offers. It notifies users when it’s time to get a new card or get rid of an old one whose benefits may have expired.
The startup offers free and premium versions of its service. The free version of the app includes 95% of Card Curator’s offerings, like maximizing cash back or tracking miles. The premium version offers recommendations specifically to people seeking flight and hotel recommendations. It costs $5.99 per month or $60 annually. The platform currently has 5,000 users.
Card Curator’s revenue base is driven by premium subscriptions, rather than affiliate links from credit card companies. “We don't do any of that,” Garner said. “We feel like it creates conflicts of interest because ultimately they're going to be recommending the cards that pay them the most money, not what's best for the end user.”
Card Curator’s target demographic is young professionals, but also seeks to reach anybody who uses a credit card.
Funding: The startup raised $475,000 in pre-seed funding from a combination of friends, family, angel investors and grants from Wharton. Garner, who’s set to graduate next year, is looking to raise a seed round between $3 million and $5 million this fall.
The goal: Card Curator is developing a “smart routing” credit card, which will be able to select the best card in a user’s wallet to maximize points, miles or cash back on purchase. For example, if a user were shopping at a grocery store and wanted to prioritize getting the most cash back, Card Curator’s smart routing card would automatically use the payment information for the credit card that maximizes cash back on grocery store purchases.
Card Curator filed a provisional patent in the spring, Garner said. The startup is working on a digital card that can be used through services like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
