I am excited to share Atland’s recent investment in Rove, the first travel credit card for Gen Z.
Historically, credit cards haven’t been great for young adults. High credit score requirements and steep annual fees limit access to premium cards, forcing many to settle for starter options like Discover It, which offer little/no travel rewards. For those lucky enough to qualify for premium cards and accumulate points, maximizing rewards is quite cumbersome. Most credit cards let you book flights directly through an in-app portal. These portals typically redeem points at a fixed rate, which often limits the potential value of points. To secure better rates for their points, consumers have to become amateur “points hackers,” manually comparing point redemption values among airline partners and strategically transferring points to book flights. Rove founders Max & Arhan spent years playing this game, traveling the world for free & teaching their friends to do the same. But they knew there had to be a better way. Why does the system need to be so inaccessible & clunky? Why is it so hard for young adults, the people who want to travel the most, to do just that? They created Rove to solve this problem.
Rove is building the first, no-annual fee, travel credit card for young adults. Recognizing that young adults often struggle with limited credit history, Rove is adopting a new approach to applicant approval called “cash flow underwriting.” This approach shifts the focus from past credit performance to current income and spending habits, allowing Rove to uniquely approve customers who would otherwise be overlooked by traditional credit card companies. To make point redemption easier than ever, Rove is building the first in-app points portal to view & book transfer partner deals, automatically scanning its transfer partner loyalty programs and calculating the Rove points required for booking. This gives users “point hacked rates” with the simplicity of a built-in travel portal.
As young adults ourselves, Rove’s value proposition immediately resonated with the fund. According to the data research company Morning Consult, over half of Gen Z adults take at least three leisure trips a year. Despite concerns about financial expenses being a major worry, travel remains a top priority for our generation. We see Rove as a key player in unlocking this lifestyle for Gen Z, helping them get more mileage out of their money. Founders Max & Arhan have obsessed over this problem for years, building a strong pulse on what their customer wants. Their passion for the problem, deep customer understanding, and track record of building successful ventures gave us confidence that they were the team for this challenge.
Rove is based in NYC & recently graduated from YC’s W24 batch. We invested alongside Soma Capital, General Catalyst, Pear VC, Prod, Harvard i-Lab & more. We are so excited to see all the places Rove goes and the journey ahead. You can join the non-binding waitlist now at rovecard.com.
