Greenlight Financial Technology, creator of the smart debit card for kids, teens, and college students, raised $16 million in Series A financing.

TTV Capital led the funding round with participation from existing investors, New Enterprise Associates and Relay Ventures, and new investors SunTrust Bank, Ally Financial, nbkc bank, Canapi, and Amazon Alexa Fund.

Greenlight is a financial technology company in the Advanced Technology Development Center’s ATDC Signature portfolio of startups. A program of the Georgia Institute of Technology, ATDC is the state of Georgia’s technology incubator and works with technology entrepreneurs to help them learn, launch, scale, and succeed in creating successful startups.

The $16 million follows the $7.5 million Greenlight raised in its seed round in 2017. For all of 2017, ATDC’s current portfolio companies raised $130 million.

Greenlight’s first round of financial education partnerships will help strengthen financial literacy among kids and inspire new generations of financially confident and successful adults. Greenlight’s mission, approach, and platform to help parents raise financially smart kids — through its mobile app and smart debit card — align with the goals of innovative financial service providers as they take action toward improving financial education.  

“It’s never too early to begin learning how to manage money,” said Ellen Koebler, head of consumer solutions at SunTrust. “Helping the next generation take a step towards financial confidence is one way in which SunTrust realizes its purpose of lighting the way to financial well-being. We are partnering with Greenlight because the company shares our commitment to providing financial education, as seen through this innovative solution for parents to instill smart saving and spending habits with their kids.”

Added Dinesh Chopra, Ally Financial’s chief strategy officer: “At Ally, we focus on providing our customers with the right tools and offerings to make a real difference in how they manage their money. Our investment in Greenlight aligns with our vision to be a relentless ally for our customers’ financial wellbeing. Through the relationship, we’re supporting unique financial solutions aimed at helping families to teach children good money habits for the future.”

The Series A financing will fuel Greenlight’s rapid growth and fulfill its mission of delivering safe, simple, and family-friendly financial products worldwide. Additionally, the company plans to invest in new talent to keep pace with consumer demand and continue introducing innovative financial solutions.

“We’re thrilled to partner with innovative financial service providers to bring Greenlight to millions of additional families and help parents prepare their children for financially successful futures,” said Tim Sheehan, Greenlight’s co-founder and CEO.

Continued investor support and confidence in Greenlight’s offering and increasing momentum among consumers and financial service providers nationally have the company well-positioned to continue its strong consumer adoption.

“Greenlight’s impressive growth is attracting partners who value its family-friendly approach, just as we do,” said Tom Smith, partner at TTV Capital. “This unique solution for financial institutions is going to change the way parents teach the next generation about managing finances and will help to increase the overall financial literacy of consumers.”