Toronto-based Wave, a financial platform for small business owners, has announced a new payments solution created in partnership with Visa, designed to change how small businesses manage cash flow, as well as provide merchants quicker access to funds.
Making use of Worldpay’s payments processing platform, Wave’s Instant Payouts feature, integrates Visa’s real-time push payments solution,Visa Direct, into Wave’s small business accounting offering, which Wave claims would grant faster access to money earned.
“Our new Instant Payouts feature uses the scale that Visa provides and the nimbleness of Wave.”
-Les Whiting
“Small businesses depend on cash flow to survive, and often have to wait two or more banking days for their payments to be processed through traditional banking methods,” said Les Whiting, chief financial services officer at Wave. “Our new Instant Payouts feature uses the scale that Visa provides and the nimbleness of Wave. As a growing FinTech, we are making a meaningful impact on the way small businesses manage their money.”
Wave provides a suite of financial services and online software for small businesses. The company manages more than $244 billion in income and expense transactions for its customers, including $16 billion in annual invoicing. Founded in 2009 and launched in 2010 by Kirk Simpson and James Lochrie, Wave’s team has grown by more than 60 people in the past year. Last month, it acquired Every, a FinTech startup that provides business accounts and debit cards to small businesses.
RELATED: RBC integrating Wave’s financial services platform into SMB banking service
“Visa and Wave share a common goal of providing small businesses more convenient ways to manage their back office, as we both understand that cash flow management and access to funds are crucial to small business growth and success,” said Bill Sheley, senior vice president and global head of Visa Direct.
Wave’s Instant Payouts feature will be supported by Visa’s network, which helps enable real-time funds delivery directly to eligible Visa cardholders. The feature is part of a suite of complementary accounting solutions that Wave offers to small business owners, and is fully integrated with Payments by Wave.
By joining Wave’s invoicing and payment solutions with Visa’s push payment technology and Worldpay’s processing platform, Wave customers will be able to receive money in real-time, including on evenings, weekends, and holidays. Visa said in a statement that Instant Payouts is the first of many services that Visa and Wave will look to create for small business management.
Instant Payouts is currently available for early access to a small group of Wave customers, with plans to be released to customers across North America in the next few months.