Financial Finesse Ventures Partners With Professional Football Player Carl Nassib For First Portfolio Company

By Acquiring Stake In Rayze, Financial Finesse Ventures Seeks To Elevate FinTech As A Force For Good

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Nov. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial Finesse Ventures—a first-of-its-kind venture arm for socially responsible FinTech—today announced Rayze as its first portfolio company. Founded by NFL player Carl Nassib, Rayze is transforming the charitable giving landscape by connecting nonprofits to the next generation of donors.

Unique in venture capital, Financial Finesse Ventures is fully funded by Financial Finesse, the country's leading independent provider of financial wellness coaching as an employer paid benefit. The venture arm was created to usher the FinTech industry into a new era that is 100 percent aligned with the best interests of consumers, led by trailblazers like Rayze.

"We are thrilled to partner with Rayze as our first portfolio company," said Financial Finesse Ventures CEO Liz Davidson. "What Carl is doing is truly revolutionary. Rayze is the first social media platform to focus on charitable giving, prioritizing character over clout. We were drawn to the concept for its potential to significantly increase charitable giving, as well as the impact we believe it will have on users' mental health—something social media has grappled with for a very long time."

Rayze encourages community involvement by connecting volunteers and potential donors—particularly Millennials and Gen Z—with nonprofit groups seeking support. The platform uses social media capabilities to make it easy to find charitable giving options and to bridge the gap between like-minded people and organizations—eliminating friction and inspiring philanthropic action at scale. Rayze will use the Series A funding and incubation support from Financial Finesse Ventures to scale its user base and find innovative ways to increase both donations and volunteering. 

"Financial Finesse Ventures has been such a huge source of support already, helping us to incubate new concepts and technology behind Rayze," said Carl Nassib, NFL player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Rayze Founder and CEO. "We have a shared mindset of finding ways to both do well and do good without sacrificing one for the other."

Nassib conceived the idea of Rayze while volunteering with his NFL teammates in Tampa Bay. Serving as a mentor at a nearby juvenile detention center, he wondered why the opportunity had so many barriers. Nassib and his team built Rayze to solve for this problem—so that users can nimbly engage in their community, and never miss out on miss opportunities to give time or money to the causes they most care about.

Rayze is already seeking a patent on a proprietary QR code-based technology, developed to enable users at fundraising events to donate seamlessly to charities. The innovation aims to render the practice of "pledging" donations and the subsequent collection process obsolete—bringing conventional philanthropy into the digital era.

Financial Finesse Ventures is continuing to identify prospective companies to join its growing portfolio, using an intensive and selective process that includes quantifying the social impact of potential investments.

Financial Finesse Ventures is a first-of-its-kind venture arm for socially responsible FinTech. Launched in October 2022, the group was created to change the trajectory of the FinTech industry, drive positive social impact, and support companies that both consumers and employers can trust. Unique in venture capital, Financial Finesse Ventures is fully funded by Financial Finesse, the country's leading independent provider of unbiased workplace financial wellness coaching programs. Through an intensive and selective process, Financial Finesse Ventures will seek early-stage companies with pro-consumer models to join its portfolio.

Rayze is a social media platform that provides a simple solution for nonprofit engagement, volunteer recruitment and financial donations. Founded by Carl Nassib, Rayze was created out of a real life volunteering experience he had during his time in Tampa Bay and promotes only positive engagement. The social media app features nonprofits such as Trevor Project and United Way, and can be found on the App Store.

Contact: Maggie Weinberg, Financial Finesse
Email: maggie.weinberg@financialfinesse.com

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SOURCE Financial Finesse