Salary Hero, a Thai earned-financial well-being startup, has raised US$ 2.8 million in a seed funding round. Global Founders Capital, M Venture Partners (MVP), 500 TukTuks, 1982 Ventures, Titan Capital, and many other high-profile Thai corporate firms and angel investors participated. Salary Hero is a financial well-being company that offers workers an alternative to expensive payday loans by providing financial assistance for unforeseen expenses between paychecks. In addition, the company directly works with employers to provide economic well-being to the wage-earners and offers other services like financial education.
The company was co-founded by Bain Bangkok executives Jonathon Nohr and Prabhav Rakhra. They were both former bankers at Credit Suisse and Barclays. They identified the collective problems lower-income Thai workers face, which financial institutions often overlook. They recognised how technology could be used to provide financial assistance. In this endeavour, Jonathan and Prabhav 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.
The company stated that it would use this capital injection to continue building its customer success team to continue growing its client base and expanding its suite of high-impact neo banking products.
The co-founders of Salary Hero released their statements about their recent successes.
“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”, stated Prabhav Rakhra, co-founder of Salary Hero.
“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 official statement, Salary Hero is growing fast, seeking double-digit week-on-week user growth in 2022 with clients in the manufacturing, logistics, hospitality, and retail industries. The firm is predicted 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 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. In addition, 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.”
