Jack Ridder
| Jack Ridder | |
|---|---|
 Jack Ridder, October 2026.jpg Ridder in October 2026 | |
| Born | 2004 or 2005[1] |
| 💼 Occupation | Software developer, entrepreneur |
| Known for | Founder of KiwiBudget |
| 🌐 Website | jack |
Jack Ridder (born 2004 or 2005) is a New Zealand software developer and entrepreneur from Southland. He is the founder of KiwiBudget, a personal budgeting app for New Zealand households that connects to users' bank accounts through open banking.[2][3][1] Ridder left school at 15 and worked in supermarkets for several years before developing the app, which he has said was inspired by seeing customers struggle with the cost of living.[2][1]
Early life
Ridder is from Wyndham in Southland.[3][4] He has been interested in technology and coding since childhood, and started building online servers for the video game Minecraft at the age of eight.[2] He left school at 15.[2][1] He has said that his school offered a business subject but nothing that taught students how to manage their own money, and that he would like to see a school subject on personal finance.[2]
After leaving school, Ridder worked in supermarkets for about five years, including at New World and Pak'nSave.[1](1:23)[4] His work included pricing, which he said gave him an insight into the real cost of groceries.[2] He has said that he noticed more shoppers using calculators to keep track of their spending, and that seeing people struggle with money there gave him the idea for a budgeting app.[2][1](1:16)
Career
Ridder's first app was a business-to-business tool for retailers. He held meetings with the supermarket cooperative Foodstuffs about it, but Foodstuffs was already developing a similar system, and he turned to building a budgeting app instead.[2]
He began developing KiwiBudget in January 2026, working largely on his own through Bryder Holdings, a company he formed in Invercargill, with occasional help from freelancers.[2][1](4:42) He said that being a solo developer in Southland was "a bit different" from working in larger cities, and could be lonely.[2] By October 2026 he was working on the app full-time. He said he had averaged about 16 hours a day on it during development, falling to about eight as the coding work eased.[2][1](5:20)
KiwiBudget
KiwiBudget is aimed at working-class households and at middle- and lower-income families. Its main target audience is university students, and solo parents are among its intended users.[2][3] Ridder said that many of the budgeting apps he had tried were designed for businesses rather than households.[2]
The app connects to users' bank accounts through the New Zealand open finance platform Akahu, and categorises transactions automatically using its own list of New Zealand merchants.[2][1](4:01) Unlike budgeting tools that work by the calendar month, it is built around weekly and fortnightly pay cycles, and its home screen shows an amount that is safe to spend within the user's budget rather than their bank balance.[1](1:44, 3:32)[4] It takes account of New Zealand IRD tax codes and KiwiSaver, and integrates with StudyLink and MyMSD, services of the Ministry of Social Development.[2][1](1:59) It includes a grocery list tool and an AI "money coach", with its AI features turned off by default.[2][1](2:27) Ridder also said he was developing features for comparing supermarket prices and for users to report grocery prices, which he compared to the fuel price app Gaspy.[2][3][4]
The app was tested by 12 beta testers, and in October 2026 it was under review by Apple and Google for their app stores.[1](4:21, 4:42) It was scheduled to launch on iOS and Android on 16 November 2026, free to use with paid monthly subscription tiers.[2][3] In October 2026 Ridder was interviewed about the app on Nine to Noon on RNZ National.[1]
Education
As of 2026, Ridder planned to begin a foundation certificate at the University of Otago the following year.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 The story behind young Southland entrepreneur's budgeting app. Nine to Noon. RNZ National. 16 October 2026. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 Mutton, Tayler (3 September 2026). "Southland-born budgeting app for 'working class'". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Lindsay, Brayden (2 September 2026). "Budgeting app to help families beat cost squeeze". The Press. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Building KiwiBudget: Wyndham's Jack Ridder Takes On The Cost Of Living" (Podcast). Breakfast Southland with Chitty. iHeartRadio. 3 September 2026. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
External links
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