New York-based startup that provides instant pay access as a service for human capital management platforms Clair raised $15m in Series A funding.
The round, which brought total funding to $19.5m following its seed round led by Upfront Ventures seven months ago, was led by Thirve Capital. In conjunction with the funding, Thrive Capital’s general partner Kareem Zaki will join Clair’s board of directors.
The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach as well as continue exploring areas like healthcare and debt repayment.
Led by CEO Nico Simko, Clair provides instant pay access as a service for human capital management platforms and the gig economy. With Clair, employees and contractors can get a portion of their earned wages as soon as they finish work. The company enables HR tech and gig companies to give hourly workers free instant cash advances on their earnings.
Instead of making money on interest rates, fees or tips, Clair instead wants to be the bank and financial service provider of choice for workers. What sets Clair apart is that its offering is free to workers. Since it connects directly into HR systems, the startup takes on significantly less financial risk than traditional payday lenders, who don’t have access to the payroll data that Clair is able to analyse. Today, Clair has partnerships with platforms used by over 1.5 million hourly and gig workers.
Commenting on the round, Simko said, “We’re on a mission to give workers easier, faster access to their hard-earned cash. We want to promote financial inclusivity for everyone, and we are doing this by enabling existing HR tech providers through innovative fintech tools. This fundraising round gives us the runway we’ll need to expand our operations and realise that vision on a larger scale.”
It’s worth noting that Thrive Capital has a roster of companies that have seen much growth. The VC firm gained a reputation for championing high-growth tech innovators including FinTech companies like Affirm, Lemonade, Nubank, Plaid, Robinhood, and stripe, as well as co-founding Oscar and Cedar.
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