Real Ventures is an early-stage venture firm focused on serving daring entrepreneurs with the ambition to create successful, global companies. Since 2007, Real Ventures has dedicated itself to building the Canadian startup ecosystem on the belief that people, not money, build game-changing companies. Real Ventures provides stage-specific guidance, mentorship, and access to networks and resources to fast-track founders’ personal and company growth. Real Ventures manages $325 million across five funds and its active portfolio of 100+ companies is currently valued at $10 billion. www.realventures.com

Real Ventures

Kinetic Ventures is a leading venture capital investor in high growth, industry defining communications, information and power/clean technology companies. For over two decades they have partnered with outstanding entrepreneurs to build world-class enterprises. Kinetic is gratified to be partners with many remarkable entrepreneurs in the creation of industry defining companies like Ciena, VerticalOne, Corvis, Cerent, Peace Software, Broadware, APX, Calix, Altierre and SmartSynch.  Kinetic Ventures VIII, capitalized by corporate pension, endowment and family office investors primarily invests in early stage companies. They also selectively invest in seed and growth stage opportunities. Areas of focus for the fund include:  - Communications. Solutions that bring greater speed, functionality, usability or accessibility to voice, data and video networks. - Information Technology. Solutions that deliver greater efficiency, collaboration, security and functionality to users. - Power/Clean Technology. Solutions for the power and related industries that take advantage of the ongoing and rapid evolution in communications, information and energy technologies.

Kinetic Ventures

ITC Capital Partners specializes in providing innovative solutions and services to meet the needs of the digital age.

ITC Capital Partners

Burton Partnership is a principal investment firm based in Tampa, Florida.

Burton Partnership

Villa-Dorsey Holdings

TTV Capital is a venture capital firm focused on early stage fintech.  Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Atlanta, TTV makes B2B and B2C investments in categories across the financial technology landscape.  Our distinct approach combines deep industry knowledge with connections, resources, and founder-friendly relationships.  TTV’s portfolio includes more than 100 market leaders and emerging pioneers across payments, banking, investing, crypto, embedded finance, among others.

TTV Capital

Tech Square Ventures is an Atlanta-based early-stage venture capital firm investing in enterprise, marketplace, platform, and tech-enabled service companies. We are a team of founders, operators, and investors that partner with visionary entrepreneurs to help them with what they need most – access to markets and customers. Our platform is built on a strategic network of innovation ecosystem and corporate, and university relationships that help founders inform and accelerate go-to-market strategies.

Tech Square Ventures

Instant Financial

Instant Financial is leading the charge to provide financial freedom and wellness to millions of workers in the United States through its fee-free earned wage access solutions. By enabling employers to allow employees to access their daily wages immediately after their shift, Instant Financial helps organizations improve retention and reduce absenteeism while helping employees take control of their financial freedom by bridging the gap between work day and payday. Learn more about Instant Financial at www.instant.co.

Instant Financial provides a platform for employers to offer earned-wage access to staff via a mobile application. The company also provides services such as earnings trackers, payments, transfers, and free ATM cash withdrawals. The company claims that employers that use its platform are 30% more likely to attract employees and 20% more likely to retain them.

Helping employers provide personalized, high-touch, and holistic financial wellness tools to their entire workforce.

Financial Wellness Tools

Intact Financial acquires Jiffy, Canada's No. 1 home maintenance app

Fiserv

Fiserv has partnered with Instant Financial to introduced an Earned Wage Access (EWA) feature for businesses using Money Network electronic payroll delivery services, allowing employees to access their wages as they are earned. .

Instant Financial provides a platform for employers to offer earned-wage access to staff via a mobile application. The company also provides services such as earnings trackers, payments, transfers, and free ATM cash withdrawals. The company claims that employers that use its platform are 30% more likely to attract employees and 20% more likely to retain them.Key customers and partnershipsAs of March 2024, the company served brands across industries such as hospitality, manufacturing, transportation, and retail, serving brands such as Denny’s, Dunlap Tire, Gen Korean BBQ, Gun Lake Casino, and Primanti Bros.In February 2021, Instant Financial partnered with the human resource solutions provider, Ultimate Kronos Group (UKG) network to offer earned wage access to users of UKG’s platform.Funding and financialsThe company raised an undisclosed amount in funding via an investment led by TTV Capital. The funds were to be used to invest in growth, product development, and customer support.In 2023, Instant Financial facilitated the movement of more than USD 1 billion in employee payments and handled over 52 million transactions for employees, leading to an 18% yearly growth in payments distributed through Instant's payment platform.

Based in the UK, Salary Finance offers a comprehensive suite of financial well-being benefits for employees. The company partners with employers to offer a platform that provides employees with access to a range of financial well-being products, including salary-backed loans, earned wage advances, savings accounts, and customized educational resources to help them build and automate savings as well as improve their overall financial well-being.In April 2024, the US operations of Salary Finance merged with the financial wellness benefit platform <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/609722">Finfit</a>. The combined entity now operates under the FinFit brand in the US.Key customers and partnershipsAs of February 2024, the platform was used by 600 employers across the UK, available to more than 4.5 million employees. These include more than a fifth of the companies in the FTSE-100 index. Its notable customers include the NHS, Dunelm, Virgin Active, and Simply Health.Salary Finance partnered with the American financial technology company Chime in July 2021, to launch Save—a new product to incentivize US employees to set up a salary-linked savings account with Chime, and become entitled to a USD 50 bonus and a variable Annual Percentage Yield (APY) of 0.50%.

Salary Finance

Payactiv offers a financial wellness solution, centered around "Earned-Wage Access," allowing employees to access their wages before payday. Employees can instantly access funds for hours worked, with options to transfer to their bank, load onto a Payactiv card, or withdraw cash at Walmart. Its app works as a digital wallet and includes additional features such as AI and machine-learning-based tools for budgeting, tracking savings, managing spending and bills, and obtaining personalized one-on-one financial coaching from trained professionals.The Payactiv app also features a free communication tool—Payactiv Connect—that enables employers and employees to connect for HR communications, company news, alerts, and shift scheduling.Key customers and partnershipsAs of November 2023, PayActiv’s platform was used by employees at over 4,000 businesses from industries such as retail and food services across the US, with some customers in Canada, Australia, the Philippines, and Brazil. Its clients include Walmart, Wayfair, Ibex Global and several others. It also entered into a partnership with US Bank in February 2022, where users of prepaid US Bank Focus Cards for payroll will be able to access their wages early.The company also has working partnerships with payment processors such as <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/23004">Fiserv</a> and <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/13061">Visa</a> to enable real-time transfer of earned wages to bank accounts of employees.

PayActiv

Based In the UK, Wagestream provides a financial wellness platform, offering a range of services including earned wage access, financial education, tools for savings, and pay and spend tracking. Wagestream’s tools are offered to employees through a mobile app, with an analytics platform for employers to monitor participation and financial resilience of staff.Employees can access their earned wages using the app by paying a flat fee of GBP 1.95 (USD 2.50) per withdrawal. The company’s platform has integrations with several payroll and timekeeping systems, enabling organizations to deploy Wagestream into their payroll process.Wagestream acquired 1) Australian earned-wage access startup Earnd in March 2021 to enter into the Australian market. 2) a credit card startup Keebos, in October 2023, to integrate Keebos credit score building platform (that uses open banking data) with Wagestream’s core offerings.Key customers and partnershipsAs of February 2024, Wagestream had a global user base of more than 3 million, which included more than 1,000 corporate customers in industries such as the retail, hospitality, and healthcare sectors. The company has offices in the US, UK, Spain, and Australia and some notable employers include Burger King, Pizza Hut, Crate &amp; Barrel, Bupa, University of Chicago, Popeyes, and National Health Service UK.The company also partnered with French Insuretch provider Wakam in August 2023, to introduce income protection coverage to its users.

Wagestream

Cleo offers tools for budgeting, and provides personalized spending and savings advice by connecting to a user's bank account and applying machine learning algorithms to analyze spending habits and transaction history. The app also provides access to an interactive chatbot which users can query to obtain on-demand suggestions (which has been supported by an in-house large language model since 2023).&nbsp;The platform also offers additional features such as a secured card to build credit score, direct debits, and salary advances.Cleo operates a subscription-based pricing on its budgeting and savings tools, with fee-based pricing on its cash advance offerings targeted at gig workers and workers with poor credit. The platform charges monthly subscription fees in the range of USD 1.99 - 5.99 on Cleo Plus offering and charges USD 10.99-14.99 on Cleo build offering.Cleo’s target market is the Gen-Z segment of the population and as of October 2023, the company had 7 million users, (up from 4 million in December 2020) and had USD 72.3 million annual recurring revenue (which was up 2.4x YoY)

Cleo

FinFit offers a financial wellness benefit platform for employers that uses predictive AI, and includes tools for employees to budget, track spending, set savings goals and obtain personalized financial assessments. The platform also provides access to certified financial counselors to obtain one-on-one financial advice. In addition to financial coaching, the company also offers services such as tools to manage student loan debt, get early access to earned wages, and obtain low-cost short-term loans backed by the employee’s salary. In April 2023, Fitfit merged with the US operations of UK-based financial wellness platform <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/342361">Salary Finance</a>. The two companies aim to launch a combined platform in the US under the Finfit brand.FinFit operates a subscription-based pricing model, and charges employers in the range of USD 0.30–1.00 per employee per month based on the size of the organizations and number of employees. The platform also generates revenue through interest income by charging users interest in the range of 7.9%–24.9% APR on its loans. It charges fixed interest on its lines of credit.As of March 2024, FinFit was reported to be serving more than 500,000 employees (up from 150,000 in 2020).Key customers and partnershipsIn September 2024, FinFit <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/33696">partnered with</a> <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/945256">Sunny Day Fund</a>, a financial support platform, to offer emergency savings accounts for employees through its SafetyNet platform. In August 2024, FinFit <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32581">partnered with</a> <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/493140">isolved</a>, a human capital management platform, to expand product reach.

FinFit

Offers interactive platforms or apps for employers to provide personalized financial advice to its employees. These also include tools for budgeting, tracking earnings, and managing expenses.

Provides a platform for employers to offer its employees an alternative to payday loans. Can either be early access to wages already earned or emergency access to interest-free funds which are settled through the paycheck.

Provides a platform for employers to provide resources such as tools and advice to manage employee debt (with an increased focus on student loan debt).

Consumers can use these applications to obtain personalized financial advice, automate savings, create budgets, and track and manage their spending.

Operates a B2B SaaS model to support employers with offering various fringe benefits to employees

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

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 Instant Financial, a provider of fee-free on-demand pay solutions, has introduced Instant Direct. This new tool permits employees to access their earned wages ahead of the conventional payday cycles. They can transfer these funds to their bank account or use the Instant Card.
 Instant Direct offers an earned wage access (EWA) functionality which allows employees to receive their wages beforehand. It makes the implementation process easier for employers through simple communication about employee eligibility and by providing various EWA models.
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Instant Financial

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