Payroll Processor Debuts Gusto Wallet

Gusto, the San Francisco-based payroll and employee benefits processor, has launched a free app to help workers save from each paycheck and access cash at no cost between paydays for unexpected expenses.

Dubbed “Gusto Wallet,” it allows users to establish as many as five savings goals and put cash away every payday, insurance news outlet Coverager reported.

It also provides a debit card that syncs with Apple Pay, Venmo, Google Pay, Venmo, Square Cash and more. Its Gusto Cashout feature allows access to money that will be automatically repaid from the next paycheck.

Launched in 2012 as ZenPayroll, Gusto said it serves more than 100,000 businesses nationwide. It processes tens of billions of dollars of payroll and provides employee benefits such as health insurance, 401(k) accounts annually and college savings plans.

Coverager reported the company has a workforce of more 1,300 and has raised $516 million in 11 financing rounds.

Last year, Gusto announced a $200 million Series D funding round at a $3.8 billion post-money valuation, nearly double its value when it raised its $140 million Series C in 2018.

In an interview with PYMNTS, Gusto Co-Founder and CEO Josh Reeves said he wasn’t thinking about how he could disrupt the payroll industry when the company was formed. He wasn’t really thinking about payroll at all. Instead, he was thinking about the human brain.

“I was an electrical engineering student planning to get a PhD in neural prosthetics,” he told PYMNTS. But a funny thing happened on the way to his doctorate: He founded a business and learned a few things.

“We saw there was just so much pain and friction, we started to wonder if we could fix this by just doing it a lot better,” Reeves said. “So, we came up with some technological principles around cloud-based, mobile accessible systems that are timed better, and developed a philosophy around the idea that we need to serve both businesses and employees, because everything starts with payroll.”

Gusto focused on providing payroll and HR benefits services to small businesses, a demographic that Reeves said is in tune with the cash flow needs and liquidity challenges of its workforce.

“If you are a small business owner with a 10-person team, you know those team members very well, Reeves told PYMNTS. “And if they have a pain point in liquidity, you are going to feel it. This is pain that SMBs deal with very directly.”