Atomic secures $40m Series B funding to improve financial access for Americans

By Edlyn Cardoza

Atomic, a market-leading provider of payroll connectivity solutions, recently announced that it has raised a preemptive $40 million Series B funding round. The company will invest the proceeds in advancing its vision: to enable consumers with limited access to financial services to invest, save, and build wealth by unlocking the power of their paychecks.

Payroll represents a rich store of consumer data. Making it accessible and interoperable can drive new, lower-cost financial products for customers, thereby improving their financial outcomes while providing financial institutions with new tools to reduce fraud, improve privacy, and increase customer retention.

“Our goal is to build a fintech infrastructure that enables a new generation of bank accounts and transforms banking applications into consumer-centric platforms,” said Jordan Wright, Co-founder and CEO of Atomic.

Atomic’s vision and solutions are embraced by some of the most compelling and innovative neobanks and FinTech platforms that are reshaping an antiquated financial services landscape, including Coinbase, Dave, Welcome Tech, and Propel as well as over 70 financial institutions and technology partners. Atomic stands out in the market and is consistently chosen primarily due to two factors: its direct-deposit conversion rates (an industry-leading 75%) and its far-reaching consumer coverage. In 2021, Atomic reported that coverage grew to over 75% of the U.S. workforce, reaching 125 million workers and spanning more than 450 unique payroll integrations. At year-end, more than 17.5 million consumers had entered an Atomic workflow.

“Switching my direct deposit from a big bank to my neobank was a game-changer for my money,” said Andres Asprilla, one of the millions of everyday Americans accessing fairer financial services powered by Atomic. A certified Microsoft advisor with a 1099 income, Andres is actively pursuing an education to become a Microsoft administrator. “Getting my paycheck two days early and instant access to my tax return have saved me from overdraft fees and helped me take control of my finances.”

The Series B round was co-led by Mercato Partners and Greylock, with participation from Core Innovation Capital, Portage, and ATX Venture Partners. The funding follows a Series A round of $22 million announced in October 2021.

“Atomic’s mission to free payroll data serves the entire fintech community,” said Ryan Sanders, Managing Director at Mercato Partners’ Traverse Growth Fund. “I love the vision to build more on-ramps to financial services and become the dominant infrastructure layer that connects fintech companies and banks to consumers and their paychecks. They have the unique ability to do good for their customers as well as their shareholders at the same time.”

“When we first invested in Atomic in 2020, we believed that consumer-permissioned access to payroll data could ultimately improve consumers’ financial lives if the right third-party data integrator came along,” said Josh Mcfarland, Partner at Greylock. “Today it’s clear, Atomic has created the future of financial services through its unrelenting focus on the data trapped in all of our paychecks.”

With this latest funding, Atomic will continue to grow its team. Pioneering new solutions for the industry, including enabling consumers to qualify for and repay financial obligations directly from their paycheck, tap earned but unpaid wages ahead of their pay cycle, and securely access their payroll data with its passwordless authentication, its proprietary Uplink technology.

Key to Atomic’s momentum is a company culture that empowers people to do the most meaningful work of their lives. “Our vision of greater financial fairness for all is extremely compelling,” said Scott Weinert, Co-founder and CTO of Atomic. “It helps us attract great people and motivates them to do their best work.”