Empower, a San Francisco-based mobile banking fintech, has raised $20 million in Series A funding, which came from a group that included Icon Ventures, Defy Ventures and David Velez, founder and chief executive officer at Nubank. Existing investors Sequoia Capital and Initialized Capital also participated in the funding round. 

The company recently launched FDIC-insured high-yield checking and automated savings accounts of 1.60% with no account minimums or overdraft fees, through an alliance with NBKC Bank of Kansas City. 

"Empower is democratizing access to financial experts and products that used to be available to only the top 1% wealthiest people," Warren Hogarth, co-founder and CEO of Empower, said in a company release. "There's growing demand in the market for financial knowledge to be more practical, and that means actionable, personalized information in real time to create better outcomes. 

Empower uses artificial intelligence and human coaching to offer a suite of financial products that include high yield deposit accounts, budgeting and spending tools, subscription management, bill negotiation and targeted recommendations to help improve personal finances.