Nigeria’s Earnipay has raised $4 million in seed financing to expand its fintech solutions services across the country.
Earnipay was launched last month after being in beta since September 2021. The startup plans to offer its on-demand salary solution to 200,000 employees by the end of 2022 and will leverage the seed funding to target large enterprises, shifting its focus regionally.
The round was led by early-stage venture capital firm Canaan and included investors such as XYZ Ventures, Village Global, Musha Ventures, Voltron Capital, Ventures Platform and Paystack CEO Shola Akinlade.
Earnipay is building an earned wage access platform and integrates with companies’ existing payroll or HRM systems to offer its services to employees, who can then track and withdraw their accrued salaries via the app.
Employees’ salaries are prorated daily and companies can set limits for the percentage of salaries employees can withdraw each month. For instance, if an employee earns ₦300,000 monthly, they can get ₦10,000 daily (for 30 days) or ₦15,000 (if the employer sets the system to count only workdays; 20 in this case).
Earnipay makes these payments on behalf of the company, especially those whose cash flow may be affected should they finance the earned wage payments themselves. At the end of each month, these companies reimburse Earnipay. But for others who can afford to, Earnipay sets up a reconciliation account on top of employees’ salary accounts with scheduled automatic reimbursements.
The startup’s revenues come from charging employees a fee for accessing a part of their salary early. For withdrawals between ₦2,000($4) and ₦10,000 ($20), Earnipay collects a ₦250 ($0.5) fee. For ₦10,000 to ₦50,000 ($100) withdrawals, the charge increases to ₦500 ($1).
Since operating in beta, Earnipay has served over 20 businesses, outsourcing firms and HR solution providers in Nigeria. Some of its clients include Eden Life and Thrive Agric, whose thousands of employees have used the app to access their salary over 1,000 times, said the company.
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