The world of earned wage access (EWA) is about to get a whole lot more interesting, for several reasons.
Earned wage access usage by employees through employer-partnered products is climbing. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) estimated that the number of transactions processed by employer-partnered EWA products grew by more than 90% from 2021 to 2022, with more than 7 million workers accessing roughly $22 billion in the latter year.
Tal Clark, CEO of EWA provider Instant Financial, contends that the earned wage access market has grown “at least another 50-60% since 2022,” adding that “we’ll continue to see double-digit growth in the market as a whole over the next three to five years.”
Instant, based in Atlanta and formerly known as PayHero, has raised nearly $40 million in funding, including a $12.68 million Series C round in 2023, led by TTV Capital, with participation by ITC Holding Company, InComm Payments and Real Ventures.
FIN’s Fast Forward podcast host Holly Sraeel sat down with Clark to talk about what’s driving earned wage access growth among hourly and salaried employees, why more employers view EWA as a key retention benefit (but are resistant to pay usage fees on behalf of employees), the innovation he’s focusing on to encourage financial wellness, and how Instant’s product stacks up against rivals such as DailyPay, Clair, PayActiv, Branch, Earnin and others.
