Imagine this: You and your college friends are going out to eat. The four of you squeeze into a taxi to hit Main Street for some deep dish pizza and some drinks. Halfway to the destination, you realize that you forgot your wallet. Rather than turning the car around, you simply pull out your phone and pay your friends the difference back. But how?
Well, if you haven’t heard by now, there’s another app out there that makes exchanging money easy for those who are constantly running to the ATM to get out more cash or forgetting their wallets. If you have heard of it, you probably heard it used as a verb: "Why don't you 'Venmo' me." The same way that Google has become a verb itself, the concept of Venmo really began growing in popularity in 2017.
The “new” app is called Venmo, but most people don’t know that this app has actually been in the works since 2009 by creators and friends Andrew Kortina and Iqram Magdon-Ismail. Magdon-Ismail and Kortina first met as freshmen roommates at the University of Pennsylvania, and their app stems from the origins of being traditional college students. Magdon-Ismail forgot his wallet on a trip to visit Kortina, and instead of taking this opportunity as a loss, the duo decided that it should be easier to make transactions without their wallets. They then began developing a prototype of Venmo in 2009 that relied on transactions through text messaging, growing to become the mobile app that college students, that resemble Kortina and Magdon-Ismail themselves, seem to rely on more heavily in 2018.
The Android and iOS compatible app resembles a business model like Paypal, who actually acquired Venmo’s first buyer, Braintree, in 2013. Since then, Venmo and Paypal have worked together to allow transactions to not only be made between friends, but also from merchants to consumers. This increase in use holds a promising future for Venmo, aiming to reach a multitude of businesses by the end of 2017. By calling itself a “digital wallet,” its simplicity can be captured by those who want simple transactions between friends, while not involving the ATM.
Venmo combines social media with the exchange of money, a perfect target for a millennial-aged and Gen-Z market, although the app is easy to use for any age. Simply create an account, set up a payment method (credit or debit cards are accepted), and begin using the app! Find your friends by using contacts or search their usernames. Make a transaction and leave a note or emoji that indicates what you’re paying your friend for. Upon this, you can “like” or “comment” on a transaction, demonstrating the social aspect of the app.
After making a monetary exchange, you can request for the money to be deposited into the bank account that you have on file. Anyone who has used the app can testify the simplicity of the transaction process and Venmo is already working on their techniques for speeding up the deposit process.
If you aren't convinced yet, be sure to try it out yourself for free on the App Store or Android Market.
