- Digital banking solutions company Payfare is expanding to offer clients earned wage access.
- Payfare will target workers in Canada and in the U.S., which it estimates to have a total addressable market of over 131 million people.
- Payfare’s solutions target gig workers and its client base include Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash.
Digital banking solutions company Payfare is expanding into the earned wage access (EWA) market. The move will enable the company’s one million active users to receive access to wages they’ve already earned.
The Canada-based company believes the move will benefit its one million active users across the U.S. and Canada by smoothing out their cashflow. By jumping into EWA, Payfare joins a handful of fintechs already operating in the space, including Payactiv, Wagestream, DailyPay, and more.
Founded in 2015, Payfare serves both end consumers and businesses with digital banking, instant payment, and loyalty rewards solutions. The company offers gig workers and contract laborers faster access to their earnings with a payout debit card featuring cashback rewards and tandem mobile app with financial wellness tools. Businesses can use Payfare’s technology to send payouts to their workforce with lower processing fees than traditional paycheck services.
“We don’t believe payday loans should exist in the modern world with real time integration to payroll records as well as the capability to repay at source,” said Payfare CEO and Founding Partner Marco Margiotta. “We have built an award-winning digital banking product that has helped our gig platform partners reduce their worker acquisition costs and boost productivity. We look forward to sharing progress on our expansion into EWA over the course of 2023.”
Payfare reports the market for an EWA tool is sizable in both the U.S. and Canada. In the U.S., for example, more than 78 million workers earn a wage hourly, more than 131 million people earn an annual salary of less than $75,000, and 12 million people rely on a payday loan at least once a year. In Canada, over 22 million people earn under $75,000 annually.
Since inception, Payfare has raised $49 million (C$65.4 million). The company’s clients include gig worker platforms such as Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash.