ivorce is one of the most emotionally taxing events in a person’s life, especially when children are involved. For the one in six Americans who is a divorced or separated parent, this painful process doesn’t end when all the papers are signed – there are often years of emotionally charged conversations about shared expenses for their children still ahead of them. Today, most of these conversations about money take place through text messages or emailed spreadsheets, both of which can become contentious quite quickly. This is why we set out to build Ensemble, an app designed to help divorced and separated parents to streamline the often tense communication about shared finances for their children.
Since launching in the App Store in April of 2020, we’ve been both inspired and humbled by the way co-parents have brought us into their lives and trusted us to help them manage sensitive financial relationships. We’ve gotten to know many of our co-parents, the intimate details of their family dynamics, and we’ve seen how Ensemble can make a difference in the health of their relationships. Today we are incredibly excited and grateful to announce that Ensemble has raised a $3 million seed round in service of our mission to help improve the lives of many more co-parents and their children.
The name Ensemble is core to our philosophy – it symbolizes that a group of individuals can come together to create something better than any individual alone. This is the ethos of our team and also of our product, where divorced and separated parents who need to work together for the benefit of their children. Our hope is that our technology will remove harmful catalysts for contention and therefore enable co-parents to work together more seamlessly. What we hear time and time again through our conversations with co-parents is that even in the most amicable relationships, money is often the #1 cause of arguments. Most co-parents either figure out finances on their own ad hoc or rely on child support payments – however, child support only covers food, shelter, and clothing, which is 53% of the cost of raising a child. The other half of expenses including medical bills, extracurricular activities, transportation, etc. often end up being discussed over text messages and spreadsheets.
Ensemble was built to help ease the tension around shared finances for the over 50 million divorced and separated parents in the United States. Using Ensemble, co-parents can track shared expenses, upload receipts, see a clear balance of who owes who, and record all communication in one central place, which can then be exported if needed for court purposes. Each feature in the app was designed with empathy, care, and thoughtfulness about how it impacts sensitive co-parenting relationships.
This is only the beginning of our journey as we strive to continuously improve the lives of co-parents and their children. For me, this mission is personal – at the age of 14 I saw my own parents go through a divorce and in many ways served as an emotional confidant to both of them through that difficult process. I saw firsthand how divorce can impact families and how the stress of arguing about finances both during and after the divorce process can translate to children. This is why a core component of our mission is to reduce tension among co-parents in order to create happier homes for the next generation.
None of this would have been possible without the support of our incredible investors Citi Ventures, TTV Capital, Lerer Hippeau, the Co-Created team, and each of our users who believed in us and our vision for Ensemble. We’re so excited to share this journey with you and to continue working hard each day in service of shaping a brighter future for families.
Jacklyn Rome
Founder & CEO
