Back in 2015 when Rob Law and I were inventing on-demand pay, I could hardly have imagined the global reach the industry would achieve less than a decade later. While I had some inkling that we could help everyday Americans, today I marvel at the fact that this idea has become a global phenomenon. Today, there are well over a hundred companies scattered across each continent empowering workers through technological advances in accessing their pay when they need it.
I am especially proud to serve as an advisor to the leading international on-demand pay companies that are transforming the lives of workers and their families in their respective regions. The companies with whom I work operate in the key three regions of the world — Latin America, Europe, and Asia — which represent nearly 75% of the global workforce. There are three that I highlight here.
Paywatch is the leading on-demand pay provider in Asia. It was started by two brothers, Richard and Alex Kim who I met through a common investor. Across the vast region, Paywatch serves customers in four Asian countries with median incomes ranging from high single thousands to low five figures. The company was founded because their own employees consistently asked for paychecks to arrive early. In the Philippines and Indonesia in particular, there is a lack of traditional liquidity solutions which has allowed for high-interest payday lenders to proliferate in the region. On-demand pay adoption is just beginning to breakthrough in Asia. As the market becomes more aware of ODP, it will become a product that is widely adopted as a powerful employee benefit solution.
Paywatch is the only on-demand pay provider that is bank-backed in Asia, working with regional and global banks to deploy the solution. This enables Paywatch to provide the service at the lowest fees to the users, while providing employees with financial access to further services from financial institutions. I love this model and have learned a ton about the merits of connecting on-demand pay to an actual bank, and the impact that has on employees and cost of delivery.
Rosaly, is an on-demand pay company founded in France by serial entrepreneur Arbia Smith during the yellow vest protests that enveloped the country in 2019. Arbia realized that existing bank products exacerbated the struggles workers faced, rather than improving them. DailyPay served as a primary inspiration for starting a company that serves workers in continental Europe. Arbia and I were introduced to one another by Logan Allin, the Managing Partner of Fin Capital, and the lead investor in Salt Labs and DailyPay. From the beginning Arbia strived for a complete solution to boost the financial health of employees.
Most of Europe exists in a highly regulated environment, one in which consumers eschew debt and nearly 60% of workers live paycheck to paycheck. There are not easy factors to navigate. Rosaly receives its financing from external banks which is a leading indicator of a thriving ODP leader. They provide not only on-demand pay but highly effective financial education features as well. Their business model relies on being completely free for employees and never charging fees for those workers who use it. I love this model and if I had to guess, this is likely going to be the model not just in Europe, but also eventually in the United States.
Payflow is focused on frontline workers in Latin America as well as Spain and Portugal. Avinash Sukhwani and Benoit Menardo both worked in management consulting when they came to the realization that what we built at DailyPay could be effective in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking world. So they went out and built it !
Benoit and Avi cold emailed me and I was instantly impressed with their aggressiveness and their drive. They recognized that modern employee benefit programs were aimed at white-collar workers rather than the larger population of everyday employees. They have focused their business on Latin America, starting with two middle income countries: Colombia with a median wage of $12,000 a year and $6,500 for Peruvians.
At Payflow’s founding, the two founders determined that a successful benefit program that empowered workers would involve fees being paid by employers and never employees. All of their revenue is derived from SaaS fees paid by employers. Through their users they learned that ODP is a gateway to more effective employee benefit offerings for companies. This in turn produces lower turnover and happier workers.
On-demand pay is something I remain passionate about, and I love being able to drive the growth and development of the industry across the globe. These companies are quite different and serve regions that have distinct cultures. Yet they have an important trait in common: all prioritize everyday workers through an enterprise lens. They also all agree that the future of the sector will have two important hallmarks: The first is a soon-approaching phase of maturity where employees demand ODP as a must-have benefit rather than a luxury. The second and perhaps even more important trend is that this product should be available to employees at low or zero cost.
I love being able to shape the future of the industry globally and am proud to contribute to the world that each of these founders envisions on each of their continents.
