Grifin Raises $11 Million in Series A to Develop AI Chatbot, Add Family Features for Retail Users
The Tampa-based investing app has raised $22 million to date as it broadens its user-focused, automated investing model tied to everyday spending.
Grifin founders Aaron Froug (right) and Bo Starr (left). (Photo: SBR)
TAMPA, Fla., June 20, 2025 — Grifin, an investing app that automatically purchases stock in companies where users shop, has raised $11 million in Series A funding, bringing its total capital raised to $22 million.
The company also announced it has surpassed 500,000 registered users and reached 1 million app downloads, with 100,000 monthly active users. Grifin declined to disclose its valuation.
Founded in 2017 by Aaron Froug, Bo Starr and Robin Froug, the startup launched with a concept it calls “Stock Where You Shop.” Each time a user makes a purchase, the app invests $1 in the corresponding public company’s stock—such as Walmart. The model has since evolved to allow users to customize investment amounts. According to internal data, Walmart spending rose by 234% within six months after users began investing in its stock.
The new funding will be used to expand Grifin’s software engineering and UX teams, support product development, and introduce new features. Among the upcoming additions are a generative AI chatbot and family plans geared toward helping parents introduce investing to their children.
“AI can be an amazing feature, but it can also sometimes not give the correct things,” said Aaron, Grifin’s CEO. “We’re just making sure that we’re dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s before we launch something like that.”
The chatbot will be able to summarize financial content, answer general questions, and provide personalized insights, such as when a user made a specific investment or received a dividend. Grifin has not set a launch date, citing a need to ensure reliability.
Educational features remain a key part of Grifin’s appeal. Many of its users are women between the ages of 40 and 60, a group that historically reports lower confidence in investing. The app is also seeing traction with younger users aged 18 to 24. As a result, Grifin is considering budgeting tools to give users greater insight into their spending habits.
One of the most requested additions is family plans, which would enable users to link accounts and allow parents or grandparents to support younger family members' investment activity.
“One of the cool things that we want to do with family plans as well is allow parents or grandparents to help fund the accounts for kids or the grandkids, so there isn’t too much financial stress,” Aaron said.
The Series A was led by Nava Ventures, with additional investment from Alloy Labs, Draper Associates, Gaingels, Nevcaut Ventures and TTV Capital. Freddie Martignetti, partner at Nava Ventures, has joined Grifin’s board.
We’re just making sure that we’re dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s before we launch something like that.
