Australia’s Beforepay banks $2.8m from Airtasker’s James Spenceley

Australian fintech startup Beforepay – formerly known as Cheq – announced it has raised A$4 million (US$2.8 million) in a series A funding round led by venture capital investor James Spenceley. Spenceley is also the chairman of Airtasker and the founder of Vocus Communications.

Venture capital investor James Spenceley (left) and Beforepay CEO and co-founder Tarek Ayoub / Photo credit: Beforepay

The round comes after the company secured US$1.1 million in a funding round from VFS Group and others in February. It has raised a total of over A$6 million (US$4.2 million) in funding this year.

Founded in 2019, Beforepay uses machine learning, artificial intelligence, location data, and statistical analysis to offer personalized financial management solutions. Its app syncs with a customer’s bank account and can detect when their wage is deposited and how much they get paid.

It makes up to A$200 (US$141) available to its users in advance of their wages landing in their accounts. Once a customer’s salary arrives, Beforepay then deducts from it the amount that the client has already cashed out plus a 5% fixed transaction fee.

“We are doing for salaries what buy now, pay later has done for shopping,” said Tarek Ayoub, CEO and co-founder at Beforepay.

The company claims that it has surpassed over 100,000 registered customers and is experiencing a 20% week-on-week growth in the number of pay advances within months of its commercial launch.

With the new fund, the company will be able to keep up with user growth and the accompanying demand, as well as help more working Australians access its pay-on-demand solution.

Currency converted from Australian dollar to US dollar: US$1 = A$1.42.