Tapcheck Raises $20M to Expand Earned Wage Access

Employee financial wellness and earned wage access platform Tapcheck has announced a $20 million Series A funding round to expand its offering.

PeakSpan Capital led Tapcheck’s fundraising effort, the company said in a Thursday (June 23) press release.

McDonald’s, Jack in the Box and Home Instead are among hundreds of employers that use Tapcheck’s service. The company says its mission is to “improve business performance by empowering employees with financial wellness,” according to the company press release.

“We’ve always believed that businesses could benefit when their employees’ financial well-being was taken care of — something we saw firsthand in other businesses we founded and worked at,” Tapcheck CEO and Co-founder Ron Gaver said in the press release. “Our strategy is clearly resonating, and we’re excited to put this capital to work to support more companies and their people.”

Husband-and-wife founding team Ron and Kayling Gaver started Tapcheck to help employees across the country access their earned wages before payday, seeing that cash advances can help the 61% of the U.S. population living paycheck to paycheck. The company has grown 10 times year over year.

“The fallout from the pandemic has only accelerated the need for Tapcheck,” added Kayling Gaver, COO and co-founder of Tapcheck. “It’s incredibly gratifying to be able to help workers and their families make it through unforeseen challenges and gain more financial flexibility and confidence, while helping employers retain great people.”

Related: Overcoming The Logistical Headache Of Earned Wage Access

Last summer, Jonathan David, founder and CEO of U.K.-based FlexEarn, told PYMNTS it’s not easy for employers to migrate their back-office payroll workflows, which have operated on a scheduled basis for years, to support on-demand earned wage access.

“Workers are looking for flexibility in everything they do, including employment,” said David. “We are increasingly seeing workers who perhaps do a few hours per week for multiple companies. With unemployment so low, these companies have to compete with each other to attract and retain their people. Offering payroll perks, such as earned wage access, can give them a distinct advantage.”

Setup and administrative burdens are among the tallest hurdles that employers face when seeking to extend this benefit to their workforce, said David.