Five to watch: Oliver Purdue, Loot

Oliver Purdue, 23
Company: Loot
Web: www.loot.io

Founded by University of the West of England graduate Oliver Purdue in 2014, Loot is a money management app created specifically for university students.

Explaining what inspired him to start the company, the young entrepreneur said: “When students have their loans come in, their bank balance makes it looks like they have loads of money. But it doesn’t tell them how much that actually amounts to per week, until they get their next loan in.”

Claiming to be better than a bank, the app helps students integrate traditional banking services such as cash withdrawals, transfers and international payments, with specially designed features to help users stick to their budget. These include transaction categorisation, which groups transactions into categories such as entertainment and travel, spending reports and tailored offers to help reduce spending and discover new things. Loot says it takes just five minutes to set up an account after the user provides a photo address and ID.

The company is currently on a marketing and recruitment drive as it looks to push its product out across the UK. Now 19-strong, it’s already raised £1.5m in funding and is set to generate £2m next year. At just 23, it looks like Purdue is on to something big, which is why he’s one of our five to watch for 2016.