To accelerate its expansion, Malaysia-based Earned Wage Access (EWA) service provider Paywatch has raised $30 million in capital from a combination of equity and credit facilities.
In a statement, Paywatch announced that it had secured a Series A equity investment of over $14 million. The funding was led by Third Prime and a group of US investors that included Vanderbilt University and the University of Illinois Foundation. New investors Octagon Venture Partners and Wooshin Venture Investment Corp. also participated in the investment.
To finance the expansion of its product line, Paywatch also obtained $16 million in credit facilities from international banks, such as Citi and other significant banks.
In Southeast Asia, this is the biggest funding round that an EWA player has closed.
According to the statement, Paywatch plans to use a major chunk of its Series A funding to improve its embedded finance offerings in addition to its other innovation initiatives, in order to maintain its momentum.
“Amidst this funding and tech winter, we take immense pride in the confidence shown by these esteemed investors and banks in our vision,” said Alex Kim, President & Co-founder of Paywatch.
“From the outset, we firmly believed that providing EWA at the lowest, nominal fee to users while ensuring access to major financial institutions was the sustainable path,
“Although it was a more challenging route to market, our rapid growth and portfolio of high-caliber enterprise clients validate our approach,” he added.
Founded by brothers Richard and Alex Kim, Paywatch is an enterprise-focused company that serves the largest employee base in Asia. To date, Paywatch has processed over $58 million in salaries through its system, and it has increased its disbursements to nearly $8 million per month, with a 15 percent monthly growth rate.
As a result, the company now offers the most EWA services in Asia based on transaction volume.
By the end of the year, the company hopes to have paid out well over $120 million in salaries, more than doubling its lifetime volume.
Since its founding in 2020, Paywatch has expanded quickly to become the most widespread multinational EWA service provider in Asia, with a presence in four markets: Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, and South Korea.
