Velora

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Inspiration

Money decisions can feel overwhelming, especially when financial tools assume everyone already knows the complicated things to make wise decisions with making money. We wanted to build a calmer, more approachable way for people at different stages of life to learn about money and make a plan.

That idea became Velora, a financial learning and planning experience designed to meet people where they currently stand, whether they’re just learning what a stock is or thinking about growing their portfolio regardless of their experience.

What it does

Velora is an AI-powered financial learning and wealth management app for kids, teens, and adults. When creating and account on Velora you are prompted with all the various

Its Wealth Manager can review a user’s goals, risk profile, simulated portfolio, and market conditions, then recommend or carry out trades in the simulated account. Users can explore the decisions and see how their portfolio changes over time, all without connecting a real brokerage account or moving real money.

How we built it

We built Velora as a web app using React and Vite, with serverless API routes deployed on Vercel. The app uses Twelve Data for stock search and market data, and Gemini for AI-powered Copilot responses when the configured API quota is available.

We designed the experience around distinct kid, teen, and adult views, with shared account and portfolio data where appropriate. The trading experience is simulated so users can explore market concepts without connecting a brokerage account.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was making a broad financial product feel accessible without making it feel overwhelming. Kids, teens, and adults need different language and levels of detail, so we had to think carefully about how each experience should work.

We also worked through the practical challenges of integrating third-party APIs, deploying serverless routes, and handling cases where market data or AI services are unavailable. Keeping the experience useful when an external service fails is still an important area for us to improve.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud that Velora brings financial learning, planning, market exploration, and simulated investing together in one product while adapting the experience for different ages.

We also built a working stock search and chart experience, added paper trading with account balances, and deployed the app so people can try it in a browser. Most of all, we’re proud of the product direction: making money feel easier to understand and less intimidating.

What we learned

We learned that “one finance app for everyone” can easily become a confusing finance app for everyone. The same concept needs different explanations and interactions depending on who is using it.

We also learned that external APIs introduce real product constraints: keys must be configured correctly, provider quotas can run out, and failures need to be communicated clearly. A reliable experience requires more than a successful API call.

What's next for Velora

Next, we want to make accounts persist reliably across devices, improve onboarding and goal tracking, and expand the learning paths for kids and teens. We also want to make market data and AI service status clearer, strengthen fallback behavior, and test the experience with people who are new to investing. Our long-term goal is to help people build financial confidence one small decision at a time.