Blue collar workers account for 75% of the population but neobanks cater only to the top 10% and large banks charge very high overdraft fees to low income workers. Rosaly is creating a solution that boosts financial wellbeing of employees while increasing employee commitment and reducing financial stress in an underserved market.
Rosaly (France) is building the first neobank for blue collar workers, starting with salary advancement. These workers most commonly live pay-check to pay-check, resorting to personal loans or overdrafts with exorbitant fees if they’re struggling at the end of the month. This, in turn, traps them in a long cycle of debt most often with large banks.
In Europe, companies are required by law to pay employees already earned salary during the month. However, many employers don’t have a process for managing this so it’s manual, slow, costly and complex for all parties. They are in need of an automated solution. Enter Rosaly — providing salary advancements, alongside other tools, to support employee wellbeing, increase staff loyalty and reduce financial stress in an underserved market. This market is already established in the UK and US, but there is a huge need across Europe, despite challenges with different legal and regulatory frameworks across countries.
The first step is for Rosaly to build a debit card for employees with on-demand pay, giving workers access to their salary as they earn it and reaching employees via their payroll provider software. This is then tied to relevant perks offered by other neobanks, as opposed to luxury perks that are irrelevant and can’t be used. The future Rosaly solution will offer more protection and financial wellbeing guidance to employees. Employers will also have a solution to help them plan and manage cashflow tied to salary advances.
Having built and sold her last company, an international marketplace for emerging designers, Arbia Smiti wanted to build an ambitious new product-led business with social purpose. She founded Rosaly, a fintech for good with the intent to revolutionise financial wellbeing for all.
“Rosaly is on a mission to help millions of people live happier, healthier financial lives. By helping employees manage debt, build savings habits, and access earned pay, we are aiming to create a more accessible alternative to traditional financial services providers. Payroll Initiated Banking for Blue Collar Workers is a revolution we are starting in France to spread to all of Europe and beyond,” — Smiti, Rosaly Founder and CEO.
We first met Arbia in April 2022. From the first call, we loved her vision and saw the opportunity despite many other investors challenging the competitive market. Arbia’s investor network was primarily limited to France and she was keen to gain access to investors who could help her scale globally. She also wanted to get more women on her cap table!
We introduced Arbia to Fin Capital, who led the $10 million round and have in-depth experience in FinTech, having previously backed US-based unicorn DailyPay (an on-demand payment platform). We’re very excited to also co-invest with female founders fund Auxxo from Germany as well as other funds such as The Treasury VC, Haymaker, FJ Labs, LeFonds VC, Clocktower, Kraken Ventures, Audeo Ventures and Moving Capital.
And, aligning with Arbia’s vision of her cap table, 70% of Sie Ventures SPV investors were female and we hope to unlock more investment opportunities like Rosaly to our investors in the future.
We can’t wait to see where Arbia and the Rosaly team takes this next and look forward to supporting them on their journey!
If you’d like to know more, feel free to drop us an email: hello@sie.ventures
