Ex-Citigroup Indonesia director’s fintech startup secures $2m in seed round

With additional reporting from Roehl Niño Bautista.

Hugo, a Singapore-based digital wealth and saving app, announced it has raised US$2 million in seed funding from 1982 Ventures and prominent family offices and angels.

Hugo app / Image credit: Hugo

Founded in 2019 by David Fergusson, Ben Davies, and Braham Djidjelli, Hugo is a digital saving app that can help users manage their financials. Accounts with Hugo are secured within DBS Bank, and the company is also a Singapore FinTech Association member.

“We have spread ourselves across digital banking, spending analytics, digital wealth, and also employee wellness,” Fergusson told the media in a roundtable session last week.

Hugo users can do transactions via a Visa debit card issued by the company and plan their savings according to their financial goals.

They also can buy and sell gold assets via the Hugo app for as low as S$0.01 (around US$0.0074) and turn their savings into physical gold. This service is backed by physical gold stored in vaults that are accredited by the London Bullion Market Association and insured by Lloyd’s of London.

“We did actually ask consumers what we should do first, and given a choice, most of them said gold,” said Fergusson, noting the ease of trading the product. “It is a sort of 101 approach to getting people into long-term investment services, and that journey is going to be easier with gold than, let us say, a mutual fund or a life insurance product.”

All payments with Hugo are automatically categorized for analysis and can be rounded up to the nearest dollar, with the difference pooled to buy gold within the app.

Fergusson, former director of Citigroup in Indonesia and UBS in Hong Kong, also founded a precious metals trading company called Global Precious Metals prior to building Hugo.

The fintech startup says that it will launch more features that can optimize customers’ budgeting, savings, and investing habits.