Due to its distinctive focus on families and rapid growth—the Berlin-based Fintech now has over 50,000 families on its platform just 18 months after its launch—Telecom Europe, the biggest telecoms company in Europe, has recognized Bling as an interesting partner.

During the 'funding winter' of the previous year, Bling secured millions of dollars from well-known investors, including PEAK, La Famiglia (General Catalyst), and Ben Tellings, the former CEO of the German ING branch. With the release of "Bling Mobile," the family-friendly fintech moves one step closer to being a regular family friend.

Bling is intended to be a family platform that lets kids and parents plan their home, manage and invest their money, and use the Bling Card and App. The first smartphone app in the EU made exclusively for families, Bling Mobile offers cutting-edge features for child protection as well as media literacy-boosting content. Bling is taking a calculated step towards becoming a more comprehensive family-focused platform with the addition of parental control features to its app, which incorporates a telecom pricing portfolio.

Increasingly, mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs)
In addition to demonstrating the potential of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), the partnership with Telekom, the biggest telecom provider in Europe, also highlights the intersection of fintech and telecommunications as a lucrative business proposition with relatively higher margins than in the B2C fintech sector.

By utilizing e-SIMs, which are becoming more and more common, Bling's foray into mobile communications offers consumers seamless connectivity possibilities. This tactical change also takes into account how the fintech industry is evolving. Serving parents' initial contact points—their first bank account, their first investment, and now their first SIM card—benefits Bling and suggests a multi-billion dollar target market.

"We take the next step toward being a comprehensive family platform with Bling Mobile. Nils Feigenwinter, CEO and co-founder of Bling, says, "We now streamline mobile communication for families, from managing pocket money, facilitating effortless parent investing, and organizing households' tasks."

"We crafted a mobile plan specifically designed for children and their parents, characterized by unique features such as an internet filter for children and educational gamification elements," says Leon Stephan, CTO and co-founder of Bling.

"We are happy that we have collaborated with Bling, one of the fastest-growing fintechs in Europe, to create a distinctive digital mobile communication product that sets new benchmarks and occupies a significant market niche for kids, teens, and their parents. We are particularly committed to promoting media literacy," says Wolfgang Metze, Managing Director, Private Customers, Telekom Germany.

Longstanding CEO of ING-DiBa and mandubbed "the inventor of online banking in Germany" by the media, Ben Tellings, is upbeat about Bling's approach, having invested in it just a few months after its launch. "The incorporation of telecom services is a calculated step toward expanding Bling's market share and positioning the company as a pioneer in the development of family-focused services going forward. According to Tellings, Bling is the first fintech business in the EU to include mobile communication in its product line.

For tens of thousands of youngsters today, the Bling Card is their first payment experience, and for families, Bling's "Savings Trees" are their first investment. In addition to providing their kids with the first mobile plan, Bling Mobile offers parents a full-service parenting package with socially relevant features and useful functions that help the next generation become more financially and media literate.