Daily, small and medium-sized business owners review their bank balances in order to formulate sound financial strategies. However, according to entrepreneur Yoseph West, bank accounts often lack essential information and functionalities that proprietors could significantly benefit from.
In an interview with Eltrys, West stated, “SMBs comprise 44% of U.S. GDP, anchor the economy, and have a profound effect on all of us.” Despite this, the majority of SMBs have cash on hand for only 27 days. Their banking operations require greater clarity and control over cash flow.
2012. In 2012, West, who in college majored in equity and debt finance, co-founded the stock market research application Vuru. Later that year, following the acquisition of Vuru by fintech company Wave Accounting, West remained on staff and advanced to the position of director of product engagement.
West conceived of his subsequent enterprise, Relay, an SMB-oriented business banking and money management service, while employed at Wave. West founded Relay in October 2018 in collaboration with Paul Klicnik, a former IBM engineer who had built the foundational technical infrastructure of the coupon application Flipp.
West explained, “Relay is an online business banking and money management platform that empowers small businesses to manage their cash flow.” “We designed the platform to offer genuine cash flow transparency to SMBs.”
The platform from Relay enables SMBs to consolidate their reserves, income, and expenses across up to twenty checking accounts. (Relay is not a bank; its affiliate Thread Bank, which West claims is FDIC-insured, provides the banking services it offers.) Using Relay, a company can allocate funds to savings accounts with an annual percentage yield of 1% to 3% and provide employees with a maximum of 50 physical or virtual Visa debit cards.
As with conventional institutions, relay users can send and receive ACH transfers, wire payments, and check payments. Additionally, they have the capability to capture and retain receipts, granting access to their employees via role-based accounts.
Competing with neobanks like Bluevine and Mercury, the organization generates revenue via interest on customer deposits, card interchange fees, and a $30 per month premium service (Relay Pro), which includes features such as same-day payments. However, according to West, Relay is one of the few companies of its kind that does not target individual business owners or tech startups.
“We designed Relay for the 33 million-plus SMBs in the United States and their internal or outsourced finance functions,” he stated. “We cater primarily to small businesses in the “heart of America” with two or more full-time, part-time, or contracted employees and a monthly revenue between $20,000 and $200,000.”
As a result, this particular strategy has been successful.
West forecasts that by the second half of 2025, Relay’s annualised revenue will have increased to $100 million. Relay’s substantial clientele of approximately 100,000 businesses led to a threefold increase in profits in 2022 and a projected nearly sixfold increase in 2023.
This is particularly remarkable in light of the current condition of the fintech sector.
According to CrunchBase, venture funding in financial services and fintech decreased to $43 billion in 2018, the lowest level in six years and a more than 50% year-over-year decline from the $89.5 billion invested in 2022. The severe funding climate played a role in the demise of fintech companies like Synapse, a banking-as-a-service startup whose insolvency has significantly affected the financial situations of millions of clients.
Relay closed a $32.2 million Series B round this week, anchored by Bain Capital Ventures and contributed to by BTV, Garage, Industry Ventures, and Tapestry. Relay used the funding to lay the groundwork for expanding into new areas such as crediting, financial APIs, and expenditure management. The new funds increase the total amount raised by the venture to $51.6 million.
“Our growth rate influenced our decision to raise,” West explained. “For SMBs to obtain predictive cash flow analytics, a unified view of currency inflows and disbursements throughout the back office is required. Relay remains committed to achieving that goal. Moving forward, the platform will provide small businesses with intelligent recommendations based on their back office’s comprehensive activity monitoring.
By year’s end, Relay, a Toronto-based organisation, intends to increase its personnel from 140 to 200 individuals.
