MoneyTree Launches as a Mint for Japan, Connects With 30 Japanese Banks

MoneyTree, a Tokyo-based startup, has just launched its iOS finance app today. The service is basically a Mint.com for Japan, though the big difference is that MoneyTree is currently focused on mobile users.

The startup’s aim is to simplify the financial lives of users in Japan. There are many other apps from Japan that allow users to manually record their finances, such as Zaim, but MoneyTree is different in securely connecting users with over 30 different banks and credit cards in Japan.

I had an opportunity to sit down with Paul Chapman, the CEO of MoneyTree, and he was able to give me a first-hand tour of the app. Paul provided me a tour with their demo data set, and then I put it to the test with my own financial information.

You put in all your online banking information, and then MoneyTree goes to work. The end result is a really simple user interface based on two “cards” – one for your current overall situation, and then another that details your income and expenses. One thing I noticed was that a lot of my spending habits were already cleverly categorized by the app from my credit card usage.

However, Japan is still very much a cash-driven country. MoneyTree also makes it easy for people to mark how they spend that cash and categorize it within the app.

What really sets MoneyTree apart from other financial apps in Japan and elsewhere in the world is the simplicity of the user interface and experience. The information you’re shown is exactly what you need to see, and you don’t need to do any data input if you don’t want to. If you want to see more data on anything, you simply tap on the related field. It’s extremely apparent that MoneyTree understands the mobile-first approach. In future, the startup will add graphs so that you can visualize your finances.

MoneyTree is launching today in English and Japanese on iOS, and other platforms will be supported in the future.