Column Tax, a company that offers tax features as a service, unveiled a new tax product today along with its announcement that it raised $5.1 million in seed funding.
The investment, which marks Column Tax’s first funding round, was led by Bain Capital Ventures with participation from South Park Commons, Core Innovation Capital, and Operator Partners. The company will use the money to expand client adoption of Tax Filing, an income tax filing API, and Tax Refund Unlock, the tool it is launching today.
Tax Refund Unlock is a product that allows banks and fintechs to offer their users advance access to their tax refunds in monthly payments. Column Tax CEO Gavin Nachbar explained that the new product will help Americans to access their refunds year-round, so that they can “save, invest, pay off debt, and meet ongoing obligations throughout the year, all with greater peace of mind.”
Column Tax is launching the new offering in partnership with Atomic FI, a fintech that offers APIs to drive consumer engagement; and Klover, a fintech that offers free cash advances and financial tools in exchange for customers’ data. With the Klover app, users can unlock access to their future tax refunds.
“Americans should be able to access their money when they need to. Increasing your paycheck by a couple hundred dollars can be life changing for millions of people,” said Klover CEO Brian Mandelbaum. “At Klover, we want to level the playing field by helping consumers get access to fair financial services. We already offer free access to your paycheck, real-time price comparisons, money management and saving tools, and a lot more. This is the next logical step in doing right by our consumers.”
Column Tax is headquartered in California and was founded by Gavin Nachbar, Michael R. Bock, and Shehan Chandrasekera.
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