Branch, a business payment acceleration firm, announced raising a $540 million Series B. This includes $48 million in funding led by Addition and $500 million in purchased assets from funds managed by Neuberger Berman.
The company says the funding will be used to continue scaling its personalized, workplace-focused financial products and to build its flexible workforce payment platform.
The funding round also included participation from Drive Capital, Crosscut Ventures, Bonfire Ventures, Matchstick Ventures and HR Tech Investments LLC. The round brings Branch’s total funding to $558 million, following a $10 million Series A funding round in August 2017.
Launched in 2015, Branch provides businesses with a number of workplace financial solutions. These solutions include digital tips and wages playoffs, off-cycle payments, earned wage access, fee-free banking and paycard alternatives. The company recently expanded its platform to offer contractor payments and reporting. According to PYMNTS, this enables users to automate processes, reduce payroll, support independent contractors and remove cash flow concerns.
“Faster payments is a compelling and transformative benefit expected by today’s workforce. We’ve seen how it can significantly improve cash flow for both companies and workers, so we’re excited to deliver instant payments and other engaging tools to more sectors and workforces, from other workers living paycheck to paycheck to independent contractors growing their own businesses,” Branch CEO Atif Siddiqi stated in the release.
The company has been showing impressive year-over-year growth, with over 300% growth since last year. They attribute the success to Branch’s ability to deliver faster payments with employer, gig platform and staffing company partnerships. Companies currently using Branch’s platform include Kelly, Tagger, Delivery Drivers and HR and IT management platform Rippling.
In other fintech news, Chime raised a $750 million Series G funding round to boost its valuation to $25 billion. Visa is also challenging Mastercard with a new BNPL rollout.