Fizz 🎓💳

The credit-building debit card for students.

May 14, 2025

In partnership with

Spotlight

What if college students could build credit without taking on debt?

Quick Pitch: Fizz is a no-fee, no-interest debit card that helps college students build credit with every transaction. It also includes financial education tailored for Gen Z.

The Problem

  • Student Debt Crisis: 46.1% of college students carry credit card debt, with 30% owing over $2,000. Only 33% pay balances monthly.

  • Financial Illiteracy: 20% don’t know their card’s interest rates; 52% are unaware of late fees.

  • Limited Tools: Traditional credit cards exploit students; secured cards require locked funds and build credit slowly.

  • Credit Barriers: Most credit products require credit history, a cosigner, or a credit check—putting them out of reach for many students.

Snapshot

  • Industry: Fintech, Student Financial Services

  • Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts

  • Year Founded: 2021 (YC S21 alum)

  • Traction: 61,000+ users including 15,000+ premium subscribers

Founder Profiles

  • Carlo Kobe, Co-Founder, CEO: Former Harvard student with statistical expertise and experience from Softbank-backed Merantix AI.

  • Scott Smith, Co-Founder, COO: Former finance analyst. Left Cornell to co-found Fizz.

Funding

Revenue Engine

  • Interchange Fees: Primary revenue stream from card transactions

  • Subscription Model: Premium subscribers generating consistent revenue

  • Expansion Plans: Student loan brokerage, Buy Now Pay Later features, marketplace expansion into housing, rideshare, and travel

What Users Love

  • No fees, no interest, no cosigner, and credit-building with no credit check

  • Smart spend controls, autopay, and financial Q&A

  • Campus-tailored rewards and credit monitoring.

  • 78 NPS, 50% engagement (20+ days/month).

  • Intuitive, mobile-first interface

Playing Field

  • Discover: Strong in student credit but still uses traditional models

  • Major Banks: Minimal attention to student products

  • Secured Cards: Require upfront funds with slow credit growth

  • Step / Greenlight: Built for teens with parental controls, not student independence

Fizz’s Edge: The only debit card that reports to credit bureaus—paired with education and rewards in a Gen Z-native experience.

Why It Matters

Gen Z avoids credit cards but still needs to build credit. Financial habits formed in college last a lifetime. With most students carrying balances and little education, there's growing demand for debit-first tools that are transparent, mobile, and educational.

What Sets Them Apart

  • Credit-building debit card with no credit check

  • Campus-first go-to-market and local rewards

  • Built-in financial literacy

  • Modular product architecture for fast expansion

  • Lead Bank partnership powers credit reporting and rapid product expansion

  • Positioned as the financial OS for Gen Z

Breakdown

Bulls Case 📈 

  • Positioned to own early financial relationships with Gen Z

  • Strong growth with 9x revenue increase and expanding user base

  • High engagement and 78 NPS signal strong product-market fit

  • Efficient CAC recovery through subscriptions and campus-led distribution

  • Backed by top-tier investors and a Gen Z-native, mission-driven team

Bears Case 📉 

  • Faces large incumbents with brand and capital advantage

  • Expansion beyond college remains untested

  • Must navigate complex regulations for young users

  • Crowded fintech landscape targeting the same demographic

  • Still early in brand development and product expansion

Verdict

Fizz starts by solving credit access for students through a debit card, embedding itself in spending, education, and rewards. This builds trust and engagement early. The bigger opportunity is to grow with users as they age, becoming their default financial platform. To get there, Fizz must expand beyond college life, manage regulation, and develop new revenue streams. If it does, it could define how Gen Z banks.

The Startup Pulse

  • Anysphere — AI coding platform raises $900M at a $9B valuation. Led by Thrive, with continued backing from Andreessen Horowitz and Accel.

  • Recraft — AI image generation tool for brand-compliant visuals secures $30M. Surpassing DALL·E and Midjourney in benchmarks, with 4M users and $5M ARR.

  • Glide —  New York-based startup raises $15M Series A to modernize community banks and credit unions with streamlined digital workflows.

Startup Jobs

13 Sequoia backed Series A startups. All hiring. All building.

  1. Listen Labs – AI, Market Research (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
    Hiring: Engineering, Product, GTM, Operations

  2. Rundoo – SaaS, Retail Technology (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
    Hiring: Engineering, Data

  3. Stainless – Developer Tools, Software Development (New York, NY)
    Hiring: Engineering, Sales, Support

  4. Physical Intelligence – AI, Robotics (Remote)
    Hiring: Engineering, Research, Hardware, Operations

  5. Harmonic – AI, Data Analytics (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
    Hiring: Engineering, Research

  6. Sahara AI – AI, Blockchain (Remote)
    Hiring: Engineering, DevRel, Research

  7. Caldera – Blockchain, Infrastructure (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
    Hiring: Engineering, Community

  8. Anterior – AI, Healthcare Technology (New York, NY)
    Hiring: Engineering, AI Research, Finance

  9. LangChain – Developer Tools, AI (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
    Hiring: Engineering, Product, Design

  10. Squint – Augmented Reality, Manufacturing Technology (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
    Hiring: Sales, Customer Success, Implementation

  11. Skiff – SaaS, Privacy Collaboration Tools (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
    Hiring: Engineering, Design

  12. Veed – SaaS, Media Technology (Remote)
    Hiring: Engineering, Marketing

  13. Tavus – AI, Video Technology (Remote)
    Hiring: Engineering, AI Research, Data, Product, Support

Written by Ashher

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