Barely 8 months after its launch, Barcelona-based startup Payflow has extended its seed round funding to €2 million, with strategic investors leading the way. This Spanish financial wellness startup which allows employees to get paid on demand, has now joined the portfolios of Wayra (Telefonica’s innovation hub), Zone2boost (the International Innovation Programme of CaixaBank, Global Payment and Worldline) and Plug & Play (the famous Silicon Valley investment fund, that invested early into Google, PayPal, Dropbox, N26 and Rappi).
For Payflow, these alliances and the fresh funds will be used to consolidate their growth and positioning as one of the pillars of the Spanish fintech field. It also effectively highlights the relevance and utility of its model given the times of crisis we are all living through, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Founded in the early days of 2020, this Spanish fintech already has more than 100 companies using its service, including Scalpers, Natura and Aravinc. These are just a few of the names that can attest to the service and financial freedom that Payflow has granted the tens of thousands of employees using its application.
According to the CaixaBank Accelerator, Global Payment and Worldine: “Payflow is an innovative financial solution that improves people’s lives and there is no doubt that in the future, Payflow will be as important as other social benefits, on par with health insurance.”
The mobile application, founded by Avinash Sukhwani and Benoit Menardo, allows employees to collect the proportion of their earned salary whenever they want, instead of having to wait for an inflexible payday. With this model, employees have control over when they get paid, and will never have to rely on crippling payday loans or other risky “fast cash” instruments. Furthermore, the application includes access to “Learnflow”, Payflow’s interactive e-learning platform for achieving financial wellness.
Benoit Menardo, co-founder of Payflow highlighted that “the pandemic has accelerated the digitization of HR departments and this has impacted our growth very positively especially because it’s easy to integrate with our client’s payroll processes and systems”. Avinash Sukhwani, co-founder added: “Today millions of euros are already being collected on-demand with Payflow every month and we are really proud to see the real and positive impact we are having on our clients: less turnover, more productivity and a better employee experience.”
“On-demand salary access is a growing trend and an important step in the digitization of companies,” said Marta Antúnez, director of Telefónica’s innovation hub, Wayra. “Now more than ever, solutions like Payflow are needed to empower employees, especially in the sectors that have suffered most from the pandemic. This way employees can access their salary when they need it most through an app and a simple click.”
In addition, Jaime de Borbón Dos Sicilias, Director of Plug and Play Spain commented: “Payflow is one of the most innovative and interesting solutions from a technological point of view. Moreover, thanks to its solution, employees gain financial security and a better quality of life, while companies gain loyalty and improve the well-being of their employees. Everyone wins.”
