Roshan Reddi believes social payment apps such Venmo or Snapcash have issues, and he plans to revolutionize the financial technology industry with his startup.
Reddi, an international student who graduated from Loyola Marymount University in 2015, recently took home $14,000 in prize money and investment capital at a recent business plan competition. The prize will help support Twine, the startup Reddi hopes will resolve potential interpersonal issues that current social payment apps don’t currently address.
Loaning small amounts of money or sharing costs for a concert or road trip can cause friction between friends, and Reddi’s idea is for Twine to lessen the awkwardness around asking a friend to pay you back.
“I have always aspired to be an entrepreneur, coming from four generations of entrepreneurs, and I chose LMU due to its strong reputation in this field,” Reddi said. “My education has certainly gotten me one step closer to my goal.”
Reddi, who majored in Entrepreneurship at LMU, and fellow student Andrea Irabagon took first place last year in the Global Challenge Pitch Competition. The event pitted student teams from several universities in the United States and South Korea against each other in an attempt to come up with a successful business idea. The duo won for Next Payment, the predecessor to Twine.
Reddi was also honored as an Entrepreneurship Student of the Year this spring. He credited LMU Professor David Choi and other faculty in the College of Business Administration’s Entrepreneurship program with helping get his app closer to launch.
“LMU gave me the resources and the support to take this from a mere idea stage to fruition,” he said. “It gave me a platform to succeed.”
This story originally appeared on LMU.edu.