Pay.com Raises $28 Million to Bring Rewards Platform to US

Australia’s Pay.com is launching in the U.S. as PayRewards after raising $28 million in a Series E round, bringing its total capital raised to $70 million.

The new company lets American businesses earn rewards on all payments, bank transfers and credit cards included, Pay.com said in a Monday (Aug. 24) news release.

“At a time when American consumers are decidedly rewards-driven, business payments like rent, utilities, taxes often go unrewarded because of credit card restrictions or incompatible payment systems,” the release said. “By using PayRewards, business owners can earn points on all their bill payments, both ACH/bank transfer and credit card, turning previously unrewarded spend into a rewards currency.”

The release added that these points can be redeemed at major airline and hotel loyalty programs, cabin and room upgrades, gift cards, employee incentives, custom requests, or credit against future invoices on the platform.

PayRewards said it differs from subscription-based bill-pay tools in that it charges no monthly platform fee.

“A business pays only when it chooses to earn points. And because PayRewards layers its own points on top of whatever card rewards a business already earns, it can, in effect, double the rewards on the same dollar,” otherwise known as the “DoubleDip,” the company said.

In related news, recent PYMNTS Intelligence research has found potential in lessening the friction consumers run into while attempting to discover, activate and redeem rewards.

“When rewards become easier to use, merchants gain a better opportunity to influence purchasing decisions before shoppers complete a transaction rather than after it,” PYMNTS wrote in June following the publication of “Embedded Offers: The Billion-Dollar Opportunity Inside Recent Consumer Spending.”

According to research from that report, 70% of consumers changed what they purchased after seeing an offer, while 71% adjusted how much they purchased and 43% switched payment methods to realize savings.

“Rather than suggesting merchants need to create more rewards programs, the findings point toward making existing incentives substantially easier to access,” PYMNTS added.

In addition, the research also found that consumers consistently say that convenience is now as important as the reward itself, with 80% saying they would choose a merchant who offered “a seamless shopping experience in which discounts, offers and rewards are presented automatically during checkout.”

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