# People Finance 

The future of neo-banking starts with People! 

## Elevator pitch
People Finance is a Financial Technology company building products that not only offer the best rates on banking products for our customers but full 24-hour access and transparency of customer funds with no exposure to volatility.

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/peoplefinance
- Entity ID: wefunder:company:78427
- Last updated: 2026-06-22T05:03:17Z
- Generated at: 2026-06-22T15:35:05Z

## Quick facts
- A member-owned neo-bank and investment platform
- FDIC insured banking products
- 6% high-yield Savings Accounts with no exposure to crypto or stocks.
- 0% to Low APR Credit Cards for our members
- 1,000+ limited beta users, plus, 12,000+ on our waitlist for banking services.
- Banking + Transparency is our game.
- Our goal is to have 25k member-owners with $3m in ARR by EOY 2023 (not guaranteed)
- Trade Stocks, Bonds, and Crypto right from your FDIC-insured checking account.

## Active fundraises
- wefunder:fundraise:54843: 506(b) successful (USD)
- wefunder:fundraise:66039: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)
- wefunder:fundraise:54842: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)
- wefunder:fundraise:42384: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)
- wefunder:fundraise:42385: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)

## Story
Fraud, Waste, and Abuse by financial institutions have led to an erosion of trust among their customers in recent years. Customer of banks, fintech companies, and crypto companies have all been affected by these issues.The unchecked risk practices of FinTech and Crypto banking products can put customers' deposits at risk. Companies often do not hold funds in FDIC-insured accounts, leaving customers vulnerable to the volatility of the assets in which their deposits are invested. This practice can lead to liquidity crunches and runs on deposits, leaving customers without access to their own funds. Customers often mistakenly believe that their deposits are safe when, in reality, they are exposed to significant risk.People Finance is a Financial Technology company that is dedicated to providing customers with the best rates on banking products, while also ensuring full transparency and open access of customer funds. Our products give our members peace of mind and trust in our services by offering 24/7 access and complete visibility into the accounts holding our customers' funds, with no exposure to volatility. We believe in building products that are not just about the best rates, but also about the security, transparency, and accessibility of the member's funds. Our goal is to create a transparent and reliable banking experience for our members.Our flagship product, a 6% High-Yield Savings Account, offers customers the opportunity to earn a competitive interest rate on their savings, while simultaneously granting liquidity if so needed. The interest rate for this account is based on a combination of factors, including; the Current Federal Funds Rate, short-duration treasuries, and revenues generated from other banking and investment products offered by our company.We ensure that all of our customers' funds are FDIC insured, providing an additional layer of security and peace of mind. With our flagship product, our customers can enjoy a high-yield savings experience while knowing that their funds are protected and backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. We are committed to providing customers with a safe and secure banking experience, while also offering them the opportunity to earn a competitive interest rate on their savings.Why we believe in a member-owned model:Our goal is to have 25,000 member-owners for several reasons.First, it aligns the interests of the company and its users. When the company grows, the member's stake grows with it. As member-owners, users have a vested interest in the success of the company and will be more likely to use and promote its products and services. This mutual benefit leads to increased customer loyalty and retention.Second, the member-owner relationship can create a sense of community and belonging amongst users. Specifically in the People Finance community, we hold regular live AMA (Ask Me Anything) events, and hold chat space in which the community actively converses about the future of the company. Being this type of member-owner gives users a sense of ownership and responsibility for the company, fostering a sense of community among fellow members who share a common interest in all of our mutual success.Third, creating an active member-owner partnership by hosting a member-only advisory board increases the company's visibility and breeds trust in the people who use our platform. Actively represented members are more likely to share their positive experiences with others, leading to increased brand awareness and a trustworthy reputation.Having a strong customer base, fostering a sense of community, increasing visibility, instilling trust, and raising capital for the growth of the company are all important for the overall success of People Finance. A loyal and engaged member base leads us to increased revenue and profitability, while a positive reputation can attract new customers and business partners. Building a sense of community among members will also increase customer retention and loyalty. Lastly, raising capital through member-ownership can provide the company with the necessary funds to invest in growth and expansion. Overall, having a goal of 25,000 member-owners is crucial for the long-term sustainability and success of the company.The total addressable market for our product/service is 98% of Americans who have a demand deposit account, which is approximately 200 million people. Our target market penetration is 1%, which translates to approximately 2 million accounts. This represents a significant opportunity for growth and expansion in the demand deposit and high-yield savings account market.Our current user base stands at 1,000 individuals, who are part of our limited beta testing phase. Additionally, we have a waitlist of 12,000+ individuals who are interested in our high-yield savings accounts. Notably, we have not spent any money on marketing yet, which is why these numbers represent a strong indication of customer demand for our productForward-looking projections cannot be guaranteed.Important Disclosure and Clarifications:“Since our last raise on Wefunder, we have built a trading platform from the ground up and have deployed the People Finance Beta App in both iOS and Web platforms”.At People Finance, transparency with our users and investors is our #1 core tenant. In that spirit, let us explain exactly what we are:People Finance is a FinTech platform that partners with financial institutions to bring personalized products to our customers. Therefore, we are not a bank or investment platform.People Finance is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Evolve Bank & Trust, Member FDIC. The People Visa Debit Card is issued by Evolve Bank & Trust pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used everywhere Visa debit cards are accepted.People Finance is a financial technology company, not a broker-dealer. Brokerage services are provided by Alpaca Securities LLC ("Alpaca"), member FINRA/SIPC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AlpacaDB, Inc. This is not an offer, solicitation of an offer, or advice to buy or sell securities, or open a brokerage account in any jurisdiction where Alpaca is not registered (Alpaca is registered only in the United States).Cryptocurrency services are made available by Alpaca Crypto LLC ("Alpaca Crypto"), a FinCEN registered money services business (NMLS # 2160858), and a wholly-owned subsidiary of AlpacaDB, Inc. Alpaca Crypto is not a member of SIPC or FINRA. Cryptocurrencies are not stocks and your cryptocurrency investments are not protected by either FDIC or SIPC.

## FAQ
1. **How do I put money in i can't figure it out**
   - Try again. Just relaunched!
2. **I can not find where it is open for investing.**
   - Hi Sandra - sorry for the delay here. Were you able to find it?
3. **Hi Anthony. Great product and vision. So, Stonks is for the people, and all the investors get, is to 5X their money and that’s it? Correct me if I got that wrong, maybe there’s a perpetual royalty attached to it. Personally, I want to grow with the company (equity).**
   - Herve, Thanks so much for the kind words and the question! We are giving away 5 shares of our company to every person that wants them until 50% of our CAP table is gone. That being said, I would be open to doing another round in the future where we either have royalties in perpetuity or an actual convertible note round. This is one of many raises to come :) I'm happy to answer any more questions! Shoot me a text if you want to chat further! (515) 585-3737
4. **Giving away 50% of your cap table does really make it a social capital enterprise. I will reach back to you, if I have more questions 📞. Thank you Anthony!**
   - Hi Herve, I wanted to follow-up here. After receiving similar feedback from the community it seems that everyone would rather have equity vs. revenue sharing. We have updated the terms of our raise to reflect what the people want! Please let me know if you have any questions. Cheers, Anthony
5. **I'm not able to find Stonks in EDGAR on the SEC's site. Can you provide your CIK ID or a link to your filing?**
   - Hey Scott - I spoke with Wefunder this morning. This will be filled early next week with the SEC. Happy to send over CIK ID to you once it is complete!

## Team
- Anthony Hughes (CEO )
- Sina Ghazi (VP of Product)
- Niko Hughes (Strategic Growth Advisor)
- Carsten Carlsen (Chief of Staff)

## Recent posts
- New Hires & Banking Updates (2023-03-13T19:20:31Z)
- Amazing first 48 hours! (2023-02-06T16:03:19Z)
- People Finance raise incoming! (2023-02-02T18:17:46Z)
- Happy New Year! (2022-12-29T22:45:28Z)
- Stonks Trading on the NASDAQ (2021-12-23T18:52:00Z)
- Stonks Trading - Updates and Progress (2021-07-12T18:17:40Z)
- Stonks Happy Hour/AMA (2021-05-10T21:12:51Z)
- Form C Filed! (2021-04-26T16:22:26Z)

## Q&A
- Q: First, thank you for changing the terms from a revenue sharing agreement to a convertible note. The risk/reward ratio is much more attractive for folks who want equity and the ability to share in your success over the long haul. Second, I think your decision to give users ownership in the company is brilliant. More companies need to align their customers interests with their shareholders interests. Additionally, shareholders make VERY sticky users. The only thing I can't quite wrap my head around is the $7 monthly fee. I get that there are significant concerns with PFOF (payment for order flow), but $7 is a steep price for many customers. On a $1000 trading account (which seems to be where many consumers find themselves), the monthly fee adds up to 8.4% of the entire account on an annualized basis. Could you walk me through why the decision to use a $7 monthly fee along with what exactly that fee provides the consumer with?
  - A: Hi Nathan, thank you so much for your suggestions. We took them to heart and have made two tiers. Tier 1 will be completely free to our users, and tier 2 (paid) will provide margin accounts and (almost free) crypto trading. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Cheers, Anthony
- Q: First, you might want to post an update stating that the investment terms have changed. I was following the campaign but would never have known that the revenue-share had been replaced with equity if I hadn't visited the page again. (Personally, it made the investment much more attractive.) Now, of course, I have a few questions: (1) If I'm understanding everything correctly, the company was formed in late January 2021 and is actually less than two months old, correct? That being the case, can you explain how you came up with the $10M valuation cap? (2) What's the rate on the note? (3) On your site, it says that those joining the waitlist will receive 5 shares of Stonks. Do you have a limit to the number of shares you will give away in this manner or a cap on the amount/value of the company those shares will represent? (4) Can you explain a little more about the monthly cost of $7? Is that simply to access the platform, maintain an account, what? Also, are there are additional fees? (5) Assuming trades are commission-free, will those on the platform be allowed to make unlimited trades? (6) What are your revenue projections for 2021 and beyond? (7) You stated previously that "We are giving away 5 shares of our company to every person that wants them." How does that work for someone who is a non-investor and also hasn't signed up for the waitlist? (On a side note, should investors on Wefunder expect an extra 5 shares as well?)
  - A: Thanks for the thoughtful questions, Kevin! I'll be answering all of these questions and more on the upcoming investment call on Wefunder, next week.
- Q: I'm not able to find Stonks in EDGAR on the SEC's site. Can you provide your CIK ID or a link to your filing?
  - A: Hey Scott - I spoke with Wefunder this morning. This will be filled early next week with the SEC. Happy to send over CIK ID to you once it is complete!
- Q: Congratulations on ur success so far. I checked the app on App Store and my first impression of the screen shots , it fall short on user friendly compare to Robinhood. Now, let’s move to the main point. You mentioned this app will be owned by people not Wall Street and I got ask what this really mean. Robinhood is soon to go on IPO and anyone will be able to buy few shares. Technically will be owned by people. Other companies are already traded can as well be claimed (like chase) to be owned by people. From where I am standing none of them are and nor is this app if you plan to maintain 50% of the company (enough to maintain control). Please, elaborate what company owned by people will mean, specially as most companies here target is to eventually to go public which I assume is the case here and if not, what is ur exit strategy ?
  - A: Hi Mohammed - a great question. You are correct, public companies can be owned by retail investors. However, most retail investors miss out on the huge upside by getting in early with a startup (hence, investing in start-ups on Wefunder). More specifically, we are giving away shares of our company. We do plan to go public as our exit strategy and have already begun preliminary talk with the NASDAQ to plan what this will look like.
- Q: Why is Anthony Hughes not answering the crucial and most loved questions below?
  - A: Sunny - so sorry! I am getting to them as quickly as possible! :)
- Q: I'm a fan of the idea of community-owned investing and banking. That said, I have questions about some of the content in your pitch. (1) An email on the waitlist does not equal a paying user! What do you estimate will be the conversion rate of wait list signups to actually investing or banking with you? (2) You plan to spend 150k of your 250k marketing budget on advertising directly. How do you plan to hire a growth marketing team, and/or hire an agency, and create compelling campaigns with only $100k? (3) If customers own 49.9% of the company and employees own 50.1% of the company, how do you account for investor equity? Or am I misunderstanding the "trading shares" claim?
  - A: Hi Steven - thanks so much for your questions. We have made several changes to our "pitch" since our last raise on Wefunder. 1. you are correct - waitlist does not equal paying users. However, it is a great indication of product-market fit. 2. The only conversion metric we can give right now is a projection. A few months ago we launched a "beta" paid tier to about 800 users on the waitlist. $20/month gets margin-enabled accounts and (almost) free crypto trading. Of the 800 we had 150+ conversions. So roughly 19% free to paid conversions.
- Q: Hi, I was unable to invest as I was prevented from doing so before the round closing. Although I spent much time trying. And my messages here kept disappearing. If the paperwork is not yet filed, is it too late? WeFunder has a bug in the system.
  - A: Hi Karen - So sorry you could not invest in the last round. Were you able to do so this time around?
- Q: Two more quick-fire questions: when the app launches, will options trading be enabled? Will crypto trading be enabled (hopefully with the functionality to interact with the blockchain depositing and withdrawing)?
  - A: Riley- Options won't be ready until middle 2022. Crypto trading (20+) coins will be ready by valentines day of 2022!
- Q: Hi! You state commission-free trading. Does that include OTC stocks?
  - A: Not at the moment! We are working with our broker-dealer partner, Alpaca Markets to offer this functionality.
- Q: Are there plans to create an App? Most of the WSB crowd trade exclusively from their phones.
  - A: We are in the process of creating an app at this moment!
- Q: How do I put money in i can't figure it out
  - A: Try again. Just relaunched!
- Q: What’s going on with the company?
- Q: I didn't see the mention of crypto tokens, are you still offering?
- Q: Hello, I am an investor from December 2021. I am interested in if you have a Facebook group or discord channel for investors that provides updates on what's going on with the company in a more detailed manner? If not, are there any plans on doing so? Finally, Is there a better forum to ask those types of questions on? This area seems to be more geared towards round funding questions and these are more of general questions.
- Q: What is actually happening with this company? An update is past due. . . .