Following its launch in April, Oval has helped thousands of users to take control of their finances by helping them to track their spending and save more regularly.

A key feature of Oval is “Steps”, commands set by the user that tell Oval to make a deposit to the app’s secure digital savings account each time there is a specific transaction or activity. The Steps system has been designed based on the latest research from financial experts and behavioural economists. The average Oval user has six Steps active as they pursue their savings goals.

Responding to user feedback, Oval is unveiling a new Step that takes advantage of APIs from leading social networks. Beginning with Facebook, which has formally approved this novel use of its API, Oval will be launching new integrations that allow its users to link their savings activity to their social media activity. By activating the new Steps, Oval users will be able to save a chosen amount in their digital savings wallet each time they post on Facebook.

With users making 3.3 million Facebook posts every minute, there is clearly huge potential to improve savings behaviour on a wide scale.

“Saving is difficult because it is something we tend to pursue separately from our other habits. By making it possible to seamlessly link savings behaviour to other positive behaviours, we hope to make saving effortless for our users. Feedback from our users made it clear that linking savings to social media activity could be really powerful. Sharing with friends and family on social media is something most of us do every day and this makes it an ideal positive behaviour to link to saving,” said Benedetta Arese Lucini, Oval’s CEO.

According to the latest Aviva Family and Finances report, the average British household maintains just over £3,000 in savings and investments. Yet, one-in-four UK households has less than £100 pounds saved. For families and individuals, it can be a constant challenge to make saving contributions regularly, and to grow savings sufficiently so that investing with a long-term outlook even becomes a possibility.

Oval Money is already helping its users set aside an average of £120 per month, and the new Facebook integration is expected to help users grow that figure by enabling them to tailor their savings program even further.

“Since our launch, we have been amazed by the in-depth feedback from our users. Our users understand the flexibility and potential within the Steps savings method, and have been pushing us to create a wider range of integrations. Connecting Oval Money to Facebook was a feature that users felt could really help them save more, and we are excited to bring it online,” notes Claudio Bedino, Oval’s COO.

Available in the App Store since April, Oval is now also available on Android in the Google Play store.

The company is planning a crowdfunding campaign in November as it seeks to expand its offering with a marketplace in which it will curate and arrange financial products and services for its users.

Oval Money was founded by Benedetta Arese Lucini, former CEO of Uber Italy, with Claudio Bedino and Edoardo Benedetto, co-founders of do-it-yourself crowdfunding platform Starteed.com, and Simone Marzola, long-time expert in machine learning and artificial intelligence with previous start-ups and now Oval’s CTO. Combining Benedetta’s background in big-data solutions to everyday problems with Claudio and Edoardo’s deep understanding of crowd-sourced solutions, Oval Money is well positioned to launch the next-generation personal finance app.