Fintech start-up Hi55 Ventures has secured the backing of a global investment firm with over $50 billion of assets under management for a unique pilot project that gives workers of investment grade companies real-time access to their pay.
The project is described as a pivotal trial in the evolution of Hi55 Ventures’ Pay Asset Finance, a "global first solution" operated by IT innovator NTT DATA which enables businesses to generate working capital through payroll while offering real-time pay to employees.
The pilot will be run by everis UK, a provider of information technology services and a member of the global NTT DATA Group, and would test the technological capabilities of providing real-time pay for employees by creating an ability for them to access earned wages as and when they want it, breaking the current restrictive trend of monthly pay.
The pilot will pave the way for the investment firm – which wishes to remain unnamed – to provide an undisclosed sum of funding for companies to use Pay Asset Finance, transforming how employee time is measured and the way business pays its workers.
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David Brown, founder and chief executive of Hi55 Ventures, said the pilot for the first time realises Hi55 Ventures’ vision of empowering the individual so they can access their hard-earned cash at any time, freeing them from the current payroll constraints of monthly pay that millions of workers face today.
Hi55 does so by focusing on the globally accepted principles of Supply Chain Finance in the world of pay to enable payroll to be funded externally. This helps generate much-needed working capital for firms, as they look to recover and rebuild from the economic effects of Covid-19.
Mr Brown said the pilot provides a potential lifeline for employees shackled by monthly pay, reducing financial stress and increasing productivity and well-being. He added that Hi55 Ventures’ ultimate aim was also to provide businesses with the opportunity to access a new stream of working capital. This would allow companies and organisations particularly hit by the economic effects of Covid-19 to recover and rebuild.
He said: “Hi55 Ventures is a fintech with a social purpose, and Pay Asset Finance a unique solution designed to improve the financial resilience and well-being of both businesses and their people. For employees, it enables them to view their earnings in real time and access it at any time at no cost to them. It is their earned money. We believe they should not be charged for it.
“This pilot project represents the future, a future in which every day is payday for employees, giving employees ever more freedom and control over their finances, supporting both their mental and financial well-being.
“But ultimately, what Pay Asset Finance can be is an economic ‘vaccine’ for the business community – both employers and employees – affected by the hit the economy has taken due to COVID-19. Pay Asset Finance can help protect jobs and businesses by giving them the finance to recover and grow.
“This is exactly the type of fintech solution that can help the UK recover and rebuild in 2021, at a time when unsustainable debt is growing and a potential credit crunch has been forecasted with a tsunami of loan defaults in the horizon.”
David Costa, everis UK CEO, said: “As technology partner to HI, we are proud to be involved in this pilot project.
“We believe this is a huge opportunity to empower our employees by giving them control over how they are paid. We also see the value of payroll funding as a means to provide critical support to employers, particularly in overcoming COVID-19.”
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