<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><ns2:project xmlns:ns1="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api" xmlns:ns2="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api/project" xmlns:ns3="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api/fund" xmlns:ns4="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api/person" xmlns:ns5="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api/project/outcome" xmlns:ns6="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api/organisation" ns1:created="2026-08-26T13:36:10Z" ns1:href="http://gtr.ukri.org/gtr/api/projects/F98CB87D-D66E-4D41-B7A5-EA1BDE8C2860" ns1:id="F98CB87D-D66E-4D41-B7A5-EA1BDE8C2860"><ns1:links><ns1:link ns1:href="http://gtr.ukri.org/gtr/api/persons/FCD352D5-9656-43D7-B3DD-C249862C9367" ns1:rel="PM_PER"/><ns1:link ns1:href="http://gtr.ukri.org/gtr/api/organisations/0A738282-C6E4-4043-B0F6-797C658B1D4D" ns1:rel="LEAD_ORG"/><ns1:link ns1:href="http://gtr.ukri.org/gtr/api/organisations/0A738282-C6E4-4043-B0F6-797C658B1D4D" ns1:rel="PARTICIPANT_ORG"/><ns1:link ns1:end="2021-03-30T23:00:00Z" ns1:href="http://gtr.ukri.org/gtr/api/funds/3F5A2915-7103-46EC-8F04-67B939AD86F7" ns1:rel="FUND" ns1:start="2021-01-01T00:00:00Z"/></ns1:links><ns2:identifiers><ns2:identifier ns2:type="RCUK">93407</ns2:identifier></ns2:identifiers><ns2:title>An open-banking earning and savings tool for young people</ns2:title><ns2:status>Closed</ns2:status><ns2:grantCategory>Collaborative R&amp;D</ns2:grantCategory><ns2:leadFunder>Innovate UK</ns2:leadFunder><ns2:abstractText>Young people have been hardest hit by the COVID pandemic, with huge disruption in education and now increasing unemployment in this demographic.

The Young-Digital-Earners project will extend the functionality of our product to integrated financial savings and transactions. Specifically, we want to include functionality that will allow young people on the platform to progress from earning money to establishing earnings and savings goals and making choices around where their earnings are distributed. We are developing this capability through an established team which already has experience in designing and financial apps and has a close understanding of the economics and technology involved in this new application.

By developing this functionality we will become a 1-stop-shop for young people to find opportunities to earn money and to then save/distribute their earnings. It will create a stronger relationship with our customers and open up opportunities for partnerships with banks / financial services providers.

MyPocketSkill is an award-winning edtech/fintech company, recent successes include:

* 2020 finalists in the Great British Entrepreneur Awards (Startup Category)
* Zara, cofounder, was named earlier this year on TechInvest's Women in Finance Powerlist (Women Shaping the Future of Finance).
* Featured in NatWest's 2019 \#PowerUp-100, a list of 100 startups, chosen from 10,000 who &amp;quot;stand out for having a significant impact on their local communities and on the national economy, showing impressive growth, and demonstrating the behaviours and qualities that we expect of the country's future business leaders&amp;quot;.

Our platform has also been useful and relevant throughout the COVID19 pandemic, with MyPocketSkill supporting work-at-home parents by connecting them with young people to provide education, engagement activities (academic, art, dance, digital, drama, music, technology help/tuition). These achievements were recognised recently through the EUvsVirus hackathon which was the world largest ever hackathon (20,900 participants and 2,150 projects) where we were a designated finalist.</ns2:abstractText></ns2:project>