New fintech Nine25 says it has cracked the code for “salary streaming”.

New payroll fintech Nine25 says it has developed a system that allows gig workers to ‘stream’ earned income on an hour-by-hour basis, as the company seeks to raise $2.55 million through an equity crowdfunding round.

Developed by Waddle co-founder Leigh Dunsford, Nine25 is a technology solution that allows employees to access a portion of their income before their scheduled payday.

Unlike prepaid services such as Beforepay, which provide one-off access to a portion of a user’s earned income for a 5% fee, Nine25 bills itself as Australia’s first “salary streaming” service.

Nine25 divides weekly or monthly income into hourly units, so that users have access to a cash flow that is constantly updated. Debt incurred on these expenses is automatically repaid to Nine25 when their scheduled pay check comes through.

To prevent users from blowing through their income as soon as it hits their accounts, Nine25 estimates how much money is needed for bills and regular expenses, leaving the rest as a “safe spend”.

Users pay about $10 a month for the privilege, and the fintech earns additional fees from the companies that integrate Nine25 with their existing payroll systems.

Talking to SmartCompanyDunsford said the idea for Nine25 was a natural progression from Waddle, which provides small businesses with a line of credit valued at up to 85% of outstanding invoices.

“It’s about allowing employees to manage the money effectively in real time, because employees are hit with the same problem that businesses had, which is a gap in cash flow,” Dunsford said.

The benefits for business, Dunsford said, come down to employee attraction and retention: Offering access to on-demand income can help workplaces retain their most essential staff, particularly in fields such as hospitality, where the job market is tight and the nature of shifts. work can provide erratic monthly paychecks.

The company this week announced its integration with cloud payroll provider Keypay, a development that Dunsford said will allow more businesses to offer the service to employees.

On the cards: a system that allows gig workers to access Nine25, theoretically giving riders and drivers almost immediate access to their earnings after completing a job, rather than waiting a business day or two for the money to hit their bank account.

The demands of building a system capable of “streaming” revenue from multiple, disparate sources are “really crazy,” Dunsford said.

“There’s actually quite a bit of complexity that goes into it, but we know we’ve solved that area.”

One potential outcome: gig workers using Nine25 could access all or part of their earnings when they take a photo of each completed meal delivery and log it with the system.

“This product is basically in production at the moment and will be out early next year,” Dunsford added.

Nine25 expects up to 40 companies to offer the service to employees in the coming months, and the company intends to reveal customer figures in the first quarter of 2023.

Fintech comes two years after HR platform Xero bought Waddle for $80 million.

With the lucrative acquisition in the rearview mirror, Nine25 has launched an Equitise crowdfunding round as it tries to match the scale and success of its spiritual predecessor.

The company aims to secure $2.55 million in investment, building on seed funding contributed by Equity Seed, one of the first funds to back Waddle himself.

“If we open up and let people invest in our own platform, and if they use our platform, they can also feel like they’re part of the success,” Dunsford said.

“And if we help them become more financially independent, they share in the success of our company. They’re going to be strong advocates for our brand.”