Mint.com

This article is about the web-based personal finance service. For the web analytics tool, see Mint (software). For other uses, see Mint.
Mint.com
Subsidiary of Intuit
Industry Personal finance, Software
Founded 2006
Founder Aaron Patzer
Headquarters Mountain View, California, The USA
Area served
 United States, Canada
Products Rich Internet application, Mobile application
Revenue N/A
Number of employees
 35 before acquired by Intuit in 2009[1]
Website mint.com

Mint.com is a free web-based personal financial management service for the US and Canada[2] created by Aaron Patzer. Mint originally provided account aggregation through a deal with Yodlee, but has since moved to using Intuit for connecting to accounts.[3] Mint's primary service allows users to track bank, credit card, investment, and loan transactions and balances through a single user interface as well as make budgets and goals.[4] In 2009, it was acquired by Intuit, the makers of Quicken and TurboTax.[5]

Mint.com can connect with more than 16,000 US and Canadian financial institutions and supports more than 17 million individual financial accounts. As of November 2013, Mint.com claimed to have more than 10 million users.[6]

Investment and finances

Mint raised over $31M in venture capital funding from DAG Ventures, Shasta Ventures, and First Round Capital,[7][8] as well as from angel investors including Ram Shriram, an early investor in Google.[9] The latest round of $14M was closed on August 4, 2009,[10] and reported by CEO Aaron Patzer as preemptive.[11] TechCrunch later pegged the valuation of Mint at $140M.[12]

Currently (February 2008), revenue is generated through lead generation in which Mint.com recommends highly personalized financial products to its users.[13]

Sale

On September 13, 2009, TechCrunch reported Intuit would acquire Mint for $170 million.[14] An official announcement was made the following day.

On November 2, 2009, Intuit announced their acquisition of Mint.com was complete. The former CEO of Mint.com, Aaron Patzer, was named Vice President and General Manager of Intuit’s personal finance group, responsible for Mint.com and all Quicken online, desktop, and mobile offerings.[5] Patzer further added the features of the online product Mint.com would be incorporated into the Quicken desktop product, and vice versa, as two collaborative aspects of the Intuit Personal Finance team.[15]

Controversial practices

Security

Mint asks users to provide both the user names and the passwords to their bank accounts, credit cards, and other financial accounts, which then Mint stores in their databases in a decryptable format. This has raised concerns that if the Mint databases are ever hacked, both user names and passwords would become available to rogue 3rd parties. Some banks support a separate "access code" for read-only access to financial information, which reduces the risk to some degree.[16][17]

Press and awards

Mint has garnered media coverage from a number of blogs and media outlets such as the New York Times,[18] GigaOM,[19] VentureBeat,[20] the Orlando Sentinel,[21] and the San Francisco Chronicle.[22]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Everything You Wanted To Know About Startup Building But Were Afraid To Ask". TechCrunch. October 7, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
  2. ↑ "Can Mint be used outside of the U.S.?".
  3. ↑ Ellis, Blake (December 2, 2010). "Yodlee no longer powers Mint.com's data aggregation tools". CNN.
  4. ↑ "Mint.com Now Tracks Cash and Pending Transactions". Retrieved 2010-04-19.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Intuit Completes Acquisition of Mint.com". Intuit. November 2, 2009.
  6. ↑ "What is Mint? Your Financial Life All In One Place". Mint.com. Retrieved February 24, 2013. Mint has more than 10 million users who know their information is always secure.
  7. ↑ Vivek (May 23, 2007). "MyMint.com acquires Mint.com; raises $5 million". Startup Squad.
  8. ↑ Cutler, Kim-Mai (August 12, 2009). "Mint.com rakes in $14 Million in third round of funding". VentureBeat.
  9. ↑ Marshall, Matt (October 16, 2007). "Mint, online money manager, raises $4.7M". Venture Beat.
  10. ↑ "SEC FORM D". sec.gov. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  11. ↑ Kincaid, Jason (August 12, 2009). "Full Details On Mint’s $14 Million Series C Round". Tech Crunch.
  12. ↑ Arrington, Michael (September 2, 2009). "Mint is Worth A Mint: $140 Million Valuation". Tech Crunch.
  13. ↑ "How Mint’s SmartSave Savings Engine Works". Mint.com. October 11, 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-24. Mint does make a small referral fee from advertisers on some offers. That’s what keeps Mint free.
  14. ↑ Arrington, Michael (September 13, 2009). "Intuit To Acquire (Former TechCrunch50 Winner) Mint For $170 Million". Tech Crunch.
  15. ↑ "Intuit Completes Acquisition of Mint.com". The Quicken Blog. November 2, 2009.
  16. ↑ "ING Direct Launches 'Read-Only' Access Codes for Financial Aggregation". 2011-05-26. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
  17. ↑ "Could mint.com be more secure, and if so, how?". IT Security Stack Exchange. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
  18. ↑ Caruso, Denise (October 7, 2007). "RE:Framing; Securing Very Important Data: Your Own". The New York Times.
  19. ↑ DeMonte, Adena (September 19, 2007). "Mint's A Personal Finance After-Banking Treat". GigaOM.
  20. ↑ Eldon, Eric (September 18, 2007). "Mint: The Easiest Way to Manage Your Personal Finances". Venture Beat.
  21. ↑ Horowitz, Etan (September 29, 2007). "What's hot online? Techies like Twitter and Mint".
  22. ↑ Verne (September 18, 2007). "The award goes to ... Mint". San Francisco Chronicle.
  23. ↑ "50 Best Websites 2008". Time. June 17, 2009. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
  24. ↑ "50 Best Websites 2009". Time. August 24, 2009. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
  25. ↑ "50 Best Websites 2010". Time. August 25, 2010. Retrieved March 29, 2011.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 "13th Annual Webby Awards Nominees & Winners". The Webby Awards. May 5, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 "12th Annual Webby Awards Nominees & Winners". The Webby Awards. May 28, 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
  28. ↑ "Four free Web sites give you an instant big picture on your saving, spending and retirement portfolio. But only one is the best". CNN. December 2, 2008. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
  29. ↑ Arar, Yardena (January 29, 2008). "Online Finance Services Show Where Your Money Goes". PC World.
  30. ↑ Pierre-Louis, Errol (June 20, 2008). "Mint.com Review & Rating". PC Magazine.
  31. ↑ "The 25 Most Innovative Products of the Year". PC World. December 28, 2007.
  32. ↑ "Mint Wins TechCrunch40 Top Company Award; Takes $50,000 Prize". TechCrunch. September 18, 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
  33. ↑ Jared Newman (July 1, 2013). "50 Best Android Apps for 2013". Time. Retrieved June 30, 2013.

Further reading

External links