EVEN
Over half of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Even is trying to fix that, by building new financial services that make it easier to make ends meet, pay down debt, and save money.
Company Goal:
End the Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle
Clarity's Challenge:
Don’t Follow the Money
About
When Even.com raised a significant Series B from some stellar VC’s, they knew they had news and engaged with Clarity, but they really didn’t want to tell that story. They wanted press to focus on their mission, not their backers; about the company’s actual successes in supporting their users, not convincing VC’s to support their company. Frankly, we think funding stories are as dry as dirt to boot. If we had a dollar for every “startup X raises $$$$ in funding” headline we’ve read over the years, we would just go ahead and start our own venture fund.
Turns out, Even’s (at the time) 6 month long partnership with Walmart had also created one of the most successful employee benefits ever offered by the largest employer in the US.
So, where most firms would happily blast out a copy and paste funding press release, we took the opportunity in a different direction. We worked closely with Even and Walmart’s PR teams to craft a story that used the funding as a “hook”, but focused on the human stories of Walmart associates using Even and the data that proved both companies were onto something big.
Results
- Even’s CEO met one-on-one with reporters from The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Associated Press, Reuters, Forbes, Bloomberg, and more.
- Secured 30+ pieces of original coverage in the first week of the news.
- Generated significant increase in new Even partnership leads with Fortune 500 companies.
- The headline in Bloomberg echoed our company mission verbatim: “Walmart's Fintech Partner Helps Break Paycheck-to-Paycheck Cycle”
- The CEO was named as one of 2018’s Most Daring Entrepreneurs by Entrepreneur Magazine.
Selected Press
A lifeline for workers who face hardship between paychecks
Luis Vazquez and his girlfriend were down to their last $50 after she got sick and had to miss work for a month. He already paid his rent and bills for the month, but without her income the couple couldn’t cover groceries and other essentials. His next paycheck was more than a week away. Faced with a similar cash crunch years ago, Vazquez had resorted to a payday loan, a high-interest, short term loan meant to tide a borrower over until the next paycheck. But the couple and their toddler son were eventually evicted from their apartment because they couldn’t make both their rent and the loan payments.
Walmart's Fintech Partner Helps Break Paycheck-to-Paycheck Cycle
Walmart Inc.’s employees have adopted money-management tools from Even Responsible Finance Inc. at a faster pace than anticipated, prompting a fresh round of funding to expand the fintech startup. More than 200,000 Walmart employees in the U.S. use Even’s app to manage their finances or access their wages early, the Oakland-based startup said in a statement Thursday, and almost half of that group employs it every day. That’s ahead of Even’s projections, prompting interest from other big employers and leading to a $40 million funding round led by Khosla Ventures, the venture-capital firm that also backs grocery-delivery service Instacart and spacecraft maker Rocket Lab.
Even raises $40m to transform working class to savings class
The working class of the United States doesn’t get many breaks these days. It’s not just a function of low pay and long hours, but also the incredible uncertainty of income and expenses that makes surviving week-to-week so challenging. One in five Americans have a negative net wealth, even in an economy where the unemployment rate is the lowest in almost two decades. Banks, meanwhile, are actively dissuading the working class from banking with them, creating a permanent class of unbanked and underbanked citizens.
VCs Bet $40 Million On Money App For Those Living Paycheck To Paycheck
Even, a tech startup that helps consumers with personal budgeting, has raised $40 million in new funding. Khosla Ventures led the Series B round, with Valar Ventures, Allen & Company and Silicon Valley Bank also investing. That brings Even’s total investment to date to $52 million, and Forbes estimates the Oakland, California startup will reach $20 million in revenue in 2018.
The big picture: Inconsistent wages are top concern for workers
Amid a stagnating wages crisis, income volatility continues to be a top concern for workers. Why it matters: This concern is spreading so rapidly that large employers like Walmart are looking for ways to help their employees better manage inconsistent income and personal finances. Walmart revealed on Thursday that more than 200,000 of its employees are now using Even, a system to help workers access their earned wages in between paychecks if they're short on cash for bills.
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