PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwire - August 13, 2010) - WePay, an online payment service that makes it easy for groups to collect and manage money online, today announced that it has secured $7.5M in Series B funding. Led by Highland Capital Partners with participation from existing investor August Capital, the latest round of financing will be used to expand marketing efforts, build out operations and engineering infrastructure and address rapidly growing consumer demand.
The Series B round follows an A round of capital in December of 2009 that included August Capital, PayPal founder Max Levchin, renowned angel investor Ron Conway, YouTube cofounder Steve Chen, and former Intuit CTO and CFO Eric Dunn. WePay has grown dramatically since its April 2010 public launch, with payment volume increasing 80 percent in the month of July.
"WePay is off to an outstanding start with an exceptionally high value proposition that strongly resonates for groups and organizations seeking an easy and reliable solution for collecting payments online," said Peter Bell, general partner, Highland Capital Partners, who will join the WePay board of directors. "Building on their accelerating growth, we believe they can become a market leader and household name with millions of customers."
Founded in 2008 and released in public beta earlier this year, WePay is the first online payment service designed specifically for the collection and management of group finances. WePay is the only service that gives users the ability to establish a unique, FDIC-insured account for each group they want to manage. This approach allows for easier and more flexible management of group finances, which could include common collections efforts such as professional and collegiate clubs and organizations, sports fantasy leagues, fundraisers, baby showers, class reunions, apartment rentals, event tickets and homeowners association fees.
"Collecting money from groups of individuals is a hassle that nearly everyone has had to deal with at some point in their lives. We built WePay to make this process more convenient and transparent," said Bill Clerico, cofounder and CEO, WePay. "After several months of both steady growth and exceptional user engagement, this latest round of financing will allow us to substantially expand our operations and engineering team, dramatically increase marketing efforts and continue to build our user base."
WePay's model for online collection and management of group funds makes it easy to keep funds separate and to avoid mixing group finances with personal finances. It also lends an easy way for any person to establish multiple accounts for completely different collection and payment purposes, such as one account for a bachelor party and another for a vacation fund. WePay derives revenue from either a 3.5 percent transaction fee or a 50 cent transaction fee, depending on whether group members pay with a bank account or credit card.
"WePay is the first service I've come across that has actually made collecting money from a group of people manageable," said WePay customer Daniel Garcia. "I recently used the service for my 10-year high school reunion. WePay automated and kept me up to date throughout the entire process, from setting aside a dedicated group account to notifying me of deposits."
About WePay
WePay makes it easy to collect and manage money online. WePay is the only service that allows users to keep their group's money in a dedicated account and to share this account with their group. WePay is great for professional organizations, social clubs, sports teams, fantasy leagues, philanthropic fundraisers and groups of friends. Founded by Bill Clerico and Rich Aberman in 2008 and backed by August Capital, Highland Capital Partners and YCombinator, WePay is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA. For more information, visit www.wepay.com.
About Highland Capital Partners
Highland Capital Partners was founded with the mission of helping great people build great companies. For over twenty years, the firm has taken a sector-focused approach to investing in exceptional healthcare, internet & digital media and technology companies. With $3 billion of committed capital and offices in Boston, Silicon Valley, Shanghai and Geneva, Highland has invested in and worked to create such firms as Ask Jeeves, Avid Technology, CheckFree, Conor Medsystems, lululemon athletica, Lycos, MapQuest, Navic Networks, Ocular Networks, P.A. Semi, Quattro Wireless, Quigo, Starent Networks, Sybase, Telica and VistaPrint. For more information, visit Highland's web site at www.hcp.com.
About August Capital
August Capital was founded in 1995 to invest in companies differentiated by technical innovation and entrepreneurial excellence. To date, the August Capital funds total $2.0 billion. August Capital's partners have more than a century of combined venture experience and together have invested in more than 80 companies across the technology spectrum. These companies represent an aggregate market capitalization of well over $250 billion and generate in excess of $75 billion in annual revenue. The partners at August Capital were the earliest investors in a number of ground breaking technology companies including Microsoft, Intuit, Seagate, Silicon Image, Sun Microsystems, Skype, Compaq, Symantec, Sybase, Atheros, Postini, Cobalt, shopping.com, PayCycle, Grand Junction and many more. August Capital is located in Menlo Park, California. For more information, please visit: www.augustcap.com.