22seven now officially free for everyone

Yup, you heard right. Money management platform 22seven is now free, according to an email from founder Christo Davel.

The move to take the platform free will start today.

“We’ll no longer charge a subscription fee for the current service,” the email to users reads. The platform has been slowly moving toward making the service free since its inception. Previously users were charged R70 a month to access its money management system but this was later reduced to R25.

“We’re doing this because we have great plans,” Davel adds in the mail.

According to Davel, 22seven is great at helping people manage their finances, but he argues “that it can go much further and do much more”.

The company plans to introduce new features and capabilities in the coming months. 22seven reckons that this will be much more beneficial to users as they will be able to act on the insights from the platform to help save money in tangible ways.

“It won’t be the same-old same-old stuff you’ve seen elsewhere: we want to help our customers in game-changing ways. If we succeed – and only if we succeed – then this is how we will make our money,” writes Davel.

“I’ve always said that 22seven is only 25% complete, because I knew that what we currently have is just one part of our very big vision. Going free is a step closer to it. The new capabilities that we’ll start introducing are bigger strides in the same direction,” Davel’s email goes on to say.

The startup was acquired by Old Mutual’s UK division in 2013, resulting in the company being absorbed into Old Mutual’s plans to develop digital support for its customers.

Earlier this year, the company also launched on Android as part of its bid to be available on all platforms for its customers.