• Earned wage access tool Wagestream raised $175 million.
• The investment includes $115 in debt funding and $60 in equity funding.
• Wagestream will use the funds to add to its product lineup and fuel its U.S. expansion.

Earned wage access tool Wagestream landed $175 million in combined debt and equity funding today. The Series C round, which brought $115 in debt and $60 in equity, boosts the U.K.-based company to a total of $254 million in total funding.

New investors in the round include Smash Capital, BlackRock Innovation and Growth Trust, and Silicon Valley Bank. Existing investors Northzone, Balderton, QED, LocalGlobe, XYZ, Village Global, and Fair By Design also contributed.

Founded in 2018, Wagestream has offered one million workers access to $4.7 billion in wages that they’ve earned. The company considers one measure of its success as capital raised to liquidity released. Wagestream estimates that, prior to today’s investment, the company’s ratio was 1:55. That is, for every $1 of capital it raised, it released $55 of capital. “We’re aiming for a ratio of 1:100, meaning every $1 of capital raised by Wagestream will unlock $100 of impact for frontline workers,” said Wagestream Co-founders Peter Briffett and Portman Wills.

In addition to making that ratio possible, today’s investment will also power the development of new services, including an insurance offering that automatically adjusts coverage and premium, an app that enrolls users into optimal energy plans, fair credit without the need for a traditional credit score, and an intelligent savings installment plan.

Wagestream will also leverage the investment to expand internationally. Specifically, the company will focus on serving U.S. users. To fuel this move, Wagestream recently opened its U.S. headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Photo by Rene Asmussen

Identity expert SailPoint is making waves this week. The Texas-based company has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

The all-cash deal, which values SailPoint at $6.9 million, will take the company private. SailPoint debuted on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SAIL in 2017. As part of the transaction, SailPoint stockholders will receive $65.25 per share, which represents a premium of 48% to the company’s 90-day volume-weighted average price. 

SailPoint cited multiple benefits of the new arrangement. As a private firm, the company will have increased flexibility and resources to provide identity security solutions. Additionally, SailPoint can now tap into Thoma Bravo’s operating capabilities, capital support, and software expertise. “The transaction will also allow us to pursue our long-term growth trajectory with greater flexibility and effectiveness to support our customers, expand our markets, and accelerate innovation in identity security with the backing of a strong financial partner with deep sector expertise,” said SailPoint Founder and CEO Mark McClain.

The deal comes at a time of increased interest in cybersecurity. Because many employees are still working at home after the pandemic, fraudulent attackers are taking advantage of increased security vulnerabilities. Additionally, experts have warned of potential cyber threats arising from the Russia-Ukraine war.

“SailPoint is ideally positioned to capitalize on the large and growing demand from modern enterprises for robust identity security solutions that secure their business and reduce risk,” said Thoma Bravo Managing Partner Seth Boro. “Their market-leading identity security platform provides the autonomous and intelligent approach that the market requires today, especially among larger enterprises and as hybrid working becomes more common.”

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2022.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

• BankiFi launched its Open Cash Management platform this week.
• The U.K.-based fintech built its latest offering to bring the benefits of both embedded banking and open banking to small and medium-sized businesses.
• A “supercharged” version of BankiFi’s current platform, the new offering works alongside existing accounting systems and requires no tech integration.

The new Open Cash Management platform offered by BankiFi will provide SMEs with a fully embedded banking service that enables them to manage a wide variety of banking capabilities. Invoicing, payments, collections, accounting, cash forecasting, and working capital optimization insights are all available via the platform, which is built with small and medium-sized businesses in mind.

“The Open Cash Management Platform is a business banking super app,” BankiFi Chief Product Officer Marijke Koninckx said. “With Open Cash Management, banks can offer their small business customers a full embedded banking service, which revolves around procure to pay and order to cash workflows. Instead of offering a banking channel for simple tasks, such as checking account balances and making payments, banks can instead offer a rich and comprehensive service to their SMBs centered around a bank’s brand and digital channel.”

The new offering is described by the company as a “supercharged” version of its current service that combines the benefits of both embedded and open banking. The platform leverages a suite of pre-existing bank connectors that allow the solution to be onboarded without the hassles of technology integration. The solution also works alongside the company’s existing accounting system.

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Manchester, U.K., BankiFi began 2022 by helping TSB launch a new app, Revenu, that will enable small businesses to leverage SMS, WhatsApp, email, and QR codes to get paid faster. Also this year, BankiFi announced that it was joining the Visa Fintech Partner Connect program to help bring SME business banking solutions to Visa’s clients and partners.

BankiFi has raised $3.7 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. The company includes Co-Operative Bank, Praetura Ventures, Tech Nation Fintech, the Nationwide Building Society, and the FIS FinTech Accelerator in Partnership with The Venture Center among its investors.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

• Plastiq launched its new Plastiq Pay solution this week.
• The new offering will help small and medium-sized businesses better manage cash flow and automate payment processes.
• Plastiq has raised more than $140 million in funding and includes Kleiner Perkins among its investors.

The new offering from San Francisco, California-based fintech Plastiq is designed to help small businesses better manage their cash flow at a time of exceptional inflationary pressure. Plastiq Pay, launched this week, enables companies to reclaim time spent managing vendor payments by hand, and makes it easier for SMEs to connect with affordable working capital.

“Plastiq Pay represents the biggest update to our product offering since our founding,” Plastiq Chief Operating Officer Stoyan Kenderov said. “It solves the mismatch of how businesses and suppliers want to make and receive payments by digitizing back office processes and providing instant access to short term financing to make money flow easier. It is the result of more than a decade of working with SMBs to help solve their biggest challenges and friction points.”

Plastiq Pay has five main capabilities to help small businesses become more efficient and better able to compete: invoice data capture, team workflows, automatic two-way sync, a cash flow dashboard, and short term financing options. Along with a mobile app that enables companies to manage payables remotely, these resources help small businesses automate all the critical components of the invoice receipt, payment approval routing, submission and bill reconciliation process.

“Plastiq’s payment automation features are built for CFOs that want to upskill their teams, get people out of mundane and manual work, focus on more meaningful finance function optimization, and reduce cos with a more elegant, modern payables platform,” Plastiq Chief Financial Officer Amir Jafari said.

Plastiq’s latest offering comes in the wake of a pair of partnerships forged in late 2021. In December, the company announced that it was working with PayGround to help patients manage and pay for healthcare expenses. The strategic partnership leverages Plastiq Connect APIs to enable PayGround to integrate Plastiq’s payment capabilities into PayGround’s mobile app. Patients can then create and use their PayGround Digital Wallet to pay the medical expenses using whatever payment method they prefer – from credit cards to HSAs to bank accounts. Last fall, Plastiq teamed up with community-powered corporate card Trust to help businesses pay for their marketing investments using their Trust cards.

‘Trust is focused on helping members of the Trust community make smarter marketing investments and increase cash flow,” Trust CEO James Borow said. “Paying for marketing investments through bank transfers (ACH) or check can restrict cash flow and constrain growth. Our partnership with Plastiq will help remove that hurdle.”

Founded in 2012, Plastiq has raised more than $140 million in funding from investors including Kleiner Perkins, B Capital Group, and Khosla Ventures.

Photo by Pixabay