Waave, an Australian open banking startup for account-to-account payments, has closed a $4.7 million seed round backed by Menulog managing director Morten Belling and e-commerce investor Paul Greenberg
Founded by Ben Zyl, Mark Connolly and Peter Traianou, who collectively have decades of experience working for the likes of PayPal, AfterPay, NAB and Adyen, Waave is marketing its Pay by Bank technology as a cheaper alternative to traditional credit cards.
Co-founder Ben Zyl, says: “We believe the payment industry is archaic and the way we pay today is clunky and outdated. People have become complacent with card dominance - businesses shouldn’t be paying exorbitant fees to receive payments, and customers should have full control and visibility over their money. We’re here to drive change by bringing back the connection between consumers and businesses,”
Waave Pay by Bank takes a flat 28 cent transaction fee, which the firm claims makes it over 80 percent cheaper than card payments, while providing instant authorisation, faster funds settlement and no dishonour charges or chargebacks. It works across all Australian banks, with customers guided through a one-time sign-up process enabling them to connect to their bank and make payments both online and in-store.
The startup will be rolling out its services to enterprise e-commerce merchants in the first half of this year, to be used by both online and in-store retailers nationally.
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