We’re excited to speak with Charles O’Neil, Co-founder of Sunshine+Kittens, about their new venture in children’s banking. Partnering with MasterCard, The PayFirm and SaaScada, Sunshine+Kittens is launching a unique bank account aimed at financial education for kids. This full-service account combines gamified learning with AI personalisation, original characters by Star Wars’ Jake Lunt Davies, and music by David Arnold, delivering a fun, impactful financial experience for young users.
What inspired Sunshine+Kittens to create a bank account specifically for children, and how does it differ from existing options like GoHenry?
I got the idea for Sunshine+Kittens when I started to look for a childrens’ bank account for my daughter. At the time, I was working for a large investment bank, so I understand that finance can be an uninteresting topic for kids. However, like most parents, I also understand the importance of children learning financial literacy at an early age.
Crucially, children aren’t being taught basic financial skills at school, and this financial illiteracy often continues to the point that most young adults would fail a simple financial literacy test – and many are incapable of, or uninterested in, managing their finances.
This drove me to look at the high street banks and the incumbent brands that reportedly teach kids about money. All I could think was, ‘how dull’. Across the industry, there is an understanding of money, but not of education – and what kids engage with.
I have worked with my co-founder Paul Jason for years after we met in a leading global ad agency. We have been good friends ever since and he is now the godfather to my son. We share a similar worldview and belief that creativity can connect with people and change behaviour. We had been toying with the idea of a fintech product for some time whilst I was simultaneously lamenting the poor state of financial literacy tools. Paul and I got chatting and now we have Sunshine+Kittens.
Can you elaborate on how the gamified experience is structured to teach children financial literacy while keeping them engaged?
These experiences are the secret ingredient for Sunshine+Kittens – the platform has taken the learnings from mobile free-to-play games and from Web3.0 reward mechanisms, whilst transposing these into an educational experience. The user interface isn’t black text on a white background with some multiple-choice questions slapped onto the end and labelled as gamified. Instead, the platform provides an immersive experience that both parents and kids engage with, delivered with industry-leading creative skills and design concepts.
Of course, as the platform is still in its development phase, we can’t reveal the entire concept. What matters is that Sunshine+Kittens is designed for kids, and is tailored to fit into their lives, using visual language and technology they already love and understand. It will be a totally unique experience, compared to anything else the market currently offers.
With iconic characters designed by Jake Lunt Davies and a soundtrack from David Arnold, what role does storytelling and entertainment play in shaping children’s financial learning journey?
Story telling has been the basis for learning and education for Millenia. It is the passing of knowledge and experience from one generation to the next. It is the drama and comedy that grab people’s attention and holds their attention.
One interesting aspect of the project has been that as we began to develop the concept, our team began to grow – each driven by the chance to build something positive – and every new person brought ideas to make the project richer. The result of this collaboration is a design – and gameplay-driven experience with a strong narrative to drive the gamified elements of the app, and encourage kids’ continued engagement with the app.
Alongside the ongoing design work, there is a strong understanding of the necessity for a project like this. As money becomes increasingly digital and abstract, and financial services move online, the traditional mechanisms for learning about finances – cash – is disappearing. This process makes an experience like ours crucial to encouraging kids to learn about finances.
How does the integration of AI-enabled personalisation enhance the learning experience, and what steps are taken to ensure the technology adapts to different learning styles?
People learn in different styles, whether it be auditory, visual, kinaesthetic etc. We intend to use AI to identify users’ learning style and then very subtly promote the elements of our app’s experience that best cater to their learning style, creating a tailored experience for users.
What impact do you hope the partnership with MasterCard, The PayFirm and SaaScada will have on the future of children’s financial education, particularly with the focus on real-time transaction data and payment security?
The Payfirm and SaaScada are next generation EMI and Core Banking Platforms respectively. They are passionate about financial inclusion, and their technology provides a turnkey solution to bring in the latest, relevant innovations in a plug and play manner. In a similar vein, Mastercard had been looking for a youth product for a while. Together, these partners give Sunshine+Kittens the ability to bring our product to market quickly and then pivot when necessary.