Digital bank Relay raises $19.4 million to automate financial management for small business

TORONTO, May 13, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Relay, a digital banking platform for small businesses, announced today that it has raised USD $19.4 million in funding, including a $15 million Series A led by Bain Capital Ventures with participation from Better Tomorrow Ventures, Garage Capital, Tribe Capital, Panache and Amaranthine. This capital will accelerate Relay's mission to increase the success rate of small business by automating financial management for business owners.

Relay's vision is to fully automate the finance function for small businesses via banking that deeply integrates into the back-office systems business owners rely on. Their product increases financial visibility and security while significantly reducing time spent on administration. They are building banking that is tailor-made for employer SMBs, offering deeper, more customized functionality and support than a traditional bank.

"Eighty-two percent of businesses fail due to cash flow issues, and traditional banking doesn't help ? business banking is often confusing, expensive, and siloed from other systems. We're building a challenger bank that helps businesses succeed by offering powerful tools to increase cash flow visibility and streamline time-consuming financial processes ? in addition to being affordable and easy to use," said Relay Co-Founder and CEO Yoseph West.

Ninety-nine percent of employer businesses are small businesses, yet 62% of employer small businesses do not believe their bank offers any benefit beyond an account. Relay combines the convenience of digital-first banking with robust functionality to automate financial processes such as accounting and bill payments. This functionality includes seamless integrations with popular accounting platforms like Xero and QuickBooks Online, affordable AP automation, and the ability to collaborate easily and securely on banking with both team members and external advisors, such as accountants and bookkeepers.

"Banking is still a key piece of the small-business back office that has not yet been automated or deeply integrated into the rest of financial management," said Keri Gohman, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures. "Relay is building a business banking platform that should exist ? one that not only helps employer-based business owners to run their business more smoothly, but also enables game-changing collaboration between business owners and their most important financial advisors."

Thousands of small businesses across the United States use Relay today as their primary operating account, as well as to manage AP and collaborate with their accountants and bookkeepers. Relay is on track to have processed $1 billion worth of transactions by the end of 2021.

In addition to its Series A, Relay is also announcing a previously raised seed round of $4.4M, led by Better Tomorrow Ventures with participation from Garage Capital, Panache Ventures, Tribe Capital and Amaranthine. This brings their total funding to USD $19.4 million.

Relay will use this funding to increase customer acquisition, grow the engineering and product teams, and further integrate its platform into the small business back office. Relay is also the first banking platform in the world to integrate AP automation directly into banking; this Series A will enable them to build robust workflows for bill payments, approvals, and reconciliation.

About Relay
Relay is a venture-backed digital banking platform on a mission to increase the success rate of small businesses by automating financial management and increasing cash flow visibility. Founded in 2018, Relay is headquartered in Toronto and currently serves businesses in the United States.

Thousands of SMBs, accountants and bookkeepers use Relay today as their primary operating account for business banking. By the end of 2021, Relay will have processed more than $1 billion worth of transactions for its customers. Checking accounts on Relay are FDIC insured up to $250,000, and do not include monthly account fees. For more information, visit http://www.relayfi.com.

About Bain Capital Ventures
Bain Capital Ventures partners with disruptive founders to accelerate their ideas to market. The firm invests from seed to growth in startups driving transformation across industries, from SaaS, infrastructure software and security to fintech and healthcare to commerce and consumer tech. The firm has helped launch and commercialize more than 240 companies, including DocuSign, Jet.com, LinkedIn, Redis Labs, Rent the Runway, Rubrik, SendGrid and SurveyMonkey. Bain Capital Ventures has $6.1 billion in assets under management with offices in San Francisco, New York, Boston, and Palo Alto. Follow the firm via LinkedIn and Twitter.

For more information:
Eleni Deacon
Head of Marketing @ Relay Financial
416-525-3649 | [email protected]

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Eleni Deacon, Relay, +1 (416) 525-3649, [email protected]

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SOURCE Relay