Virtual Piggy rebrands itself

Virtual Piggy has changed the name of its youth payments service to Oink.



The service enables teens to manage — with parental supervision — their allowances online, shop safely and track budgets, thereby teaching them financial management skills. Now called Oink, the service is available online or via mobile, and is 100% free to use. Oink will continue to employ Virtual Piggy’s privacy protection protocols, compliant with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.



Virtual Piggy acquired the domain name oink.com from entrepreneur and founder of Digg Kevin Rose, who had previously used the name as an app for business-evaluation services.



“Oink is a more appealing brand for teens, and a logical extension of the Virtual Piggy concept while retaining the brand heritage of the Piggy,” said Dr. Jo Webber, CEO and founder. “Our Oink rebrand signals our teen focus on their mobile lifestyle with in-store payment options coming in 2014. Moreover, it’s critical to reach teenagers when you’re trying to impact financial literacy.”



The publicly listed company name, Virtual Piggy, will continue and the service will be known to consumers as Oink.