Family investing app Nosso shut, closing all accounts from February 2024

Nosso was a London fintech app for family finance: parents opened and managed Junior ISAs and general investment accounts, choosing from ETFs managed by BlackRock.

€2.8 million seed round from fintech-focused Anthemis and Octopus Ventures, one of Europe's largest early-stage investors.

Youssef Darwich, one of the first employees of business bank Tide, and Sigurjon Isaksson, an early employee at Eigen Technologies, met in 2020 and 'both felt that family finance was a long way behind where it needed to be'. Nosso's app let parents open Junior stocks & shares ISAs and general investment accounts, pick from BlackRock-managed ETFs, and manage, track and contribute to their children's investments — targeting parents who wanted 'a more collaborative approach to wealth'.

The startup raised €2.8 million and ran with up to 10 employees, but by the year ending June 2023 its net assets had fallen to £346,000 from £1.1 million the year before. Customers were informed of the closure early in 2024. In a LinkedIn post, Darwich broke the news without disclosing the reasons: 'We emailed all our customers at Nosso to tell them that sadly we'll be winding the business down and closing all Nosso accounts over the next couple of months.'

From February 28, 2024 Nosso wound down operations and closed all accounts; money invested through the app remained safely invested with BlackRock or Vanguard, unaffected by the shutdown.

Junior ISA investing is a long-horizon, low-frequency product: parents open an account once, which makes acquisition economics punishing for a small team.

Partnering with BlackRock and Vanguard simplified trust but commoditized the product — nothing stopped parents from opening accounts directly.

The burn pattern (net assets down two-thirds in a year) suggests the seed couldn't buy enough growth before the next raise window closed.

A clear customer promise and blue-chip backers don't de-risk a niche: family finance apps must still find economics that survive a small addressable base.

As of February 12, 2024, Nosso was winding down with all accounts closing from February 28, customer funds remaining with BlackRock and Vanguard, and Darwich publicly open to his next fintech project.