Business payments fintech Zeller landed a staggering $50 million as it prepared to launch

Melbourne fintech Zeller turbo-charged its balance sheet a week before it launched in early May, with US firm Spark Capital leading a $50 million extension on its series A round, making it the country’s most valuable pre-launch startup.

Existing backers Square Peg, Apex Capital Partners and Addition joined the latest raise.

Founded by former Square exec Ben Pfisterer and Dominic Yap, the fintech has now raised $81 million all up in just a year, kicking off with a $6.3 million seed round last June. The top up was completed just six weeks after the startup announced the first tranche of a $25 million series A in March 2021.

The new cash injection will be used to accelerate development of the startup’s integrated business banking platform, and add 18 new roles to the product and engineering teams.

Zeller launched on May 4, and offers a business banking solution that includes an EFTPOS terminal, fee-free business transaction account, and business Mastercard. Unlike Judo Bank, which announced a fresh $174 million raise on Monday, Zeller does not offer business lending.

More than 1,500 Australian businesses signed up to Zeller in the first month.

Spark Capital’s James Kuklinski said the fintech’s team brought decades of collective experience in payments, technology and finance.

“From our first meeting with Ben, we knew we wanted to be a part of Zeller,” he said.

“Australia’s business banking landscape is dominated by a small group of incumbents, and is ripe for disruption through simpler, more transparent pricing, best-in-class technology, and better customer service.”

Pfisterer said they built Zeller to connect the disparate financial services, payments and banking tools used by Australian businesses.

“Our vision is to support the everyday business banking requirements of merchants, and our partnership with Spark Capital helps us accelerate development of these new products for a rapidly growing customer base who are switching to Zeller from the incumbents,” he said.