DoughMain secures $5M for financial education

The site gamifies financial education for kids and provides tools for family organization

Anyone who has a family knows that the best resource for keeping your family organized and coordinated is the fridge.  The fridge also serves as a handy financial coordination site for posting bills, upcoming birthdays that you need to buy gifts for, and reminders to pay back mob loans.  One startup, DoughMain, has taken the fridge online by creating a family coordination site that doubles as a financial education site for kids, and the company announced Monday that it has secured $5 million in funding from angel investors.

The company has an interesting backstory.  DoughMain.com got its start when founder Ken Damato was watching two of his sons play Webkinz and realized that they were employing different tactics for managing their virtual currency: one was saving in order to buy the larger items, while the other was spending his as soon as he got it.  Damato was inspired to create a financial literacy site for kids that would use gaming to teach the principles of finance. 

Understanding that character development is critical for managing money responsibly, DoughMain was created to teach kids both the basics of money and finance, as well as organization and task-management.

So the site has three tiers: family coordination, financial education through gaming, and real-world learning.  Family coordination consists of a family calendar, a chore tracker, and the “Allowance Tool,” which allows parents to set up an automatic allowance or dole out allowance to reward behaviors like washing the dishes or feeding the dog.

The gaming arm of the company consists of three age-appropriate sites: TheFunVault.com for kids ages 4-8, SandDollarCity.com for ages 8-12, and IRuleMoney.com for ages 13-19.

And finally, the company promotes real-world learning through the use of specially designed tools created in partnership with financial institutions to help older children take the step from online money management to real-life money management.  Features include bank accounts integrated with the DoughMain platform where allowance payments can be deposited, a prepaid Visa card that parents can monitor, and store gift cards.  

“Thanks to the substantial response received from investors, we have secured the necessary financing for launch,” said DoughMain CEO Kenneth Damato in a statement. “Our goal is to quickly gain acceptance from families nationwide who are looking to coordinate their households more efficiently and teach their children important financial skills.”

The company plans to use the new funds to support the launch and expansion of DoughMain.com, which went live Monday.