Halcyon fellow Euphoria.LGBT is bringing fintech to the gender transition process

As tech moves to be more socially-conscious, plenty of companies can say they’re working on something for the greater good. But few can say they’re supporting users’ souls.

Euphoria.LGBT, a fellow at the DC social impact incubator Halcyon, is a startup with a plethora of apps dedicated to “helping the trans soul” in the words of founder and CEO Katherine Anthony. Last week, the company launched Bliss, a banking app for the trans community. It’s one of many intended to help users with transitioning — the process of undergoing changes in gender presentation or characteristics to match internal gender identity.

“We’re creating all these different technologies that address a specific pain point of gender transition and trying to do it in a way that really affirms the user and restores dignity and agency,” Anthony told Technical.ly.

After raising $500,000 in a pre-seed round, Euphoria.LGBT, founded in April 2019, launched three apps this year alongside Solace, its inaugural app that offers a resource guide for gender transition.

Prior to Bliss, it had in 2021 previously launched Windfall, a marketplace for the work of trans artists; Clarity, where users can benchmark gender expression and identity; and Devotion, which offers daily affirmations. Catharsis, a mental and emotional health platform, is also set to launch in the new year. The company is set to launch a seed round, as well, in the coming weeks to help expand its team and update the existing apps.

Bliss, which launched last week, is the fifth app under Euphoria’s umbrella. Available in the iOS App Store and Google Play store, it’s a fintech tool that helps transgender users manage their money. Users don’t need to undergo stringent identity verification steps that can make logins difficult. One such scenario could occur when users have ID cards and papers that don’t match their preferred pronouns.

Anthony said that from the introduction screen on, the app is specifically engineered for those undergoing the transition process.

Users can add in specific financial goals related to transitioning, like when they’ll be able to afford hormone therapy or a driver’s license update and so on (Euphoria estimates the average cost of transition at $150,000 per person). Bliss, which is built in conjunction with banking platform Jiko, also automatically invests users’ funds in government-backed Treasury Bills for additional financial security and potential gain.

That’s in addition to measuring savings and noting progress, which can help reduce stress. Anthony also noted that Bliss offers a predictive asset: it can pinpoint a specific end date for transitioning based on financing, instead of leaving it at a loose end.

“It just seems like our best possible tool to help people meet their future self at a quicker rate,” Anthony said. “We know that the faster we can help people do that, there are going to be more trans people to walk this Earth because they’re going to survive.”

But the real goal of Euphoria, Anthony said, is that someday its technology becomes obsolete and unnecessary.

“We want a day in which our technology doesn’t need to exist,” Anthony said. “Whether that’s because the world has become accepting enough that we don’t need these specialized technologies, whether it be that the information becomes so ubiquitous that it doesn’t make sense for there to be an app, or even with banking services that there comes to be a day where people can just open an account exactly for who they are and something like Bliss isn’t necessary.”