PayActiv, a US-based financial wellness data provider backed by telecommunications and internet conglomerate SoftBank, has received $100m in a series C round featuring Ziegler Link-Age’s Fund II.
Ziegler Link-Age, a joint venture of senior data and product purchasing services provider Link-age and investment bank Ziegler, joined diversified holding group Eldridge, which led the round, and private equity firm Generation Partners.
The equity funding was secured alongside an expandable variable funding facility with retirement savings services provider Security Benefit.
Founded in 2012, PayActiv has built a service called earned wage access that allows employees to take out a portion of their earnings before their regularly scheduled payday. Its online platform also includes budgeting and savings tools as well as access to financial counselling.
The company additionally offers a prepaid debit card to unbanked users and facilitates bill payment, online purchases and ride hailing bookings through payroll without the need for a bank account.
PayActiv’s offering is used by more than 4 million employees across more than 1,400 businesses and will use the series C funding to expand its client base. It raised $20m in a late 2018 series B round featuring Ziegler Link-Age, Generation Partners and affiliate funds of SoftBank unit SoftBank Capital.
Unnamed investors provided $9.2m in series A financing for PayActiv in 2016. It said a fund affiliated with SoftBank Capital had prevously supplied it with seed capital, a deal that may have been related to $4.3m in funding it received in 2014 according to a securities filing.
