Salary Hero, a Thai-based financial wellbeing platform, announced Wednesday it has raised $2.8 million in funding.
Participation in the round included Global Founders Capital, M Venture Partners (MVP), 500 TukTuks, 1982 Ventures, Titan Capital, and multiple high-profile Thai corporates and angel investors, Salary Hero said in a statement.
The company said it will use the capital injection to continue building its customer success team to support their growing client base and expand their suite of high impact neo banking products.
“The reception of earned wage access (EWA) has been incredibly strong by Thai companies. Thai business owners and senior management truly care about the well-being of their employees. Salary Hero helps companies expand access to essential financial services amongst their employees”, said Prabhav Rakhra, Co-Founder of Salary Hero.
Through its earned wage access services and soon to be launched neo banking products, Salary Hero provides workers with an alternative to expensive payday loans, helping them absorb unforeseen expenses that occur between paychecks. Salary Hero integrates and works directly with employers to provide earned wage access and financial wellness products, such as financial education.
The firm was co-founded by Bain Bangkok executives Jonathan Nohr and Prabhav Rakhra. Both former bankers at Credit Suisse and Barclays, they identified an opportunity to use technology to service lower-income Thai workers, who are often overlooked by financial institutions. They are joined by Tep Neeranatpuree, former head of corporate sales at Lalamove, and Thanakij Pechprasarn, former Chief Technology Officer of ed-tech company Gantik, to scale Thailand’s leading financial wellness platform.
“We empower every Thai employer to be a hero when it comes to driving financial inclusion of their employees without disrupting their business. This round of funding allows us to double down on that mission and focus on launching more high impact financial products,” said Jonathan Nohr, Co-Founder of Salary Hero.
According to the statement, Salary Hero is growing rapidly, seeing double digit week-on-week user growth in 2022 with clients across manufacturing, logistics, hospitality and retail industries. The firm is on track to reach 100,000 users by 2023.
“We’re proud to be backing Salary Hero, supporting their innovative solution for employers to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive labour market. The future of payroll is one where we say goodbye to traditional pay cycles. Salary Hero empowers workers, and at the same time, solves immediate challenges for employers – driving retention, recruitment, and productivity of their workforce,” said Mayank Parekh, the Chief Executive Officer of M Ventures Partner (MVP).
Hertz Thailand (Paragon Car Rental Co., Ltd) Chief Executive Officer Ratavud Panichewa said, “At Hertz, our priority is our people. Salary Hero allows us to support our employees by offering early access to earned wages without impacting our business practices. Salary Hero allows us to help our team achieve financial stability and avoid predatory loans and debt traps. Salary Hero is well aligned with our values and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy with talent retention as a key focus.”