Venture: Blackbullion is a London based for-profit edtech startup aiming to equip students with necessary financial skills for their transition to higher education and beyond. They offer a digital platform to simplify how to approach financial literacy, from an educational programme covering 80 financial subjects to integrating that knowledge with fintech-based funds application and payments all within one platform. Their customer community is driven through partnerships with higher education institutions, hosting events, webinars and other community activities to connect with their target audience.
Bio: Vivi Friedgut completed an economics and marketing degree from the University of New South Wales in Australia in the late 90’s and spent nearly a decade in financial services as a private banker and business development manager prior to launching Blackbuillion. She is currently an advisory group member of Edtech UK and still holds the title of CEO at this venture. Friedgut has noted in a few interviews that prior to 2008, her knowledge and skillset for financial literacy had little room in the education market, but afterwards she found unrest in the sector opened the door for her venture to start as a lecture circuit, before ultimately becoming a digital platform.
My Thoughts: I wondered about this venture and the decision to be a for-profit venture because in my experience there are several not-for-profit resources for students in this space. An interesting quote Friedgut had mentioned was “when you’re a business that gets paid for your services, it means that you are outstanding because if you’re not, people won’t pay for it – and the money makes it very transparent” (Hogan, 2021, para. 2). The partnership model with institutions not only bodes well for their scalability, but it’s also enabled them to choose partnerships that align with the values of the company, which Freidgut has mentioned can be problematic coming from a fintech background. Their rapid growth makes it seem that they are bound to expand beyond the three countries they’ve hosted partnerships in (UK, Australia and New Zealand). I’m interested to see how they maintain their company values in this process.
Resources
https://www.blackbullion.com/
https://fintechmagazine.com/financial-services-finserv/blackbullion-ceo-vivi-friedgut-talks-finserve-and-diversity
https://thepienews.com/pie-chat/vivi-friedgut-blackbullion/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChJk3SdnLdSKg1EJixQ880g
Thanks for this post, Richard. Great read. When Vivi Friedgut launched Blackbullion, it focused on teaching students money skills, neatly fitting in the Edtech sector. However, at some point Friedgut recognized that financial education alone was insufficient, and Blackbullion incorporated more fintech-focused elements like funds application and digital payments. This evolution demonstrates how Friedgut guided Blackbullion’s transition across sectors by identifying an additional consumer need beyond education.