Zepto is an API and automation-obsessed payments innovator that enables merchants to integrate with ease.
Year founded : 2017 [as Split Payments], rebranded to Zepto in 2021
Founders/CEO: CEO - Chris Jewell Founded by four local entrepreneurs, Ian Lennie, Matt Cheers, Trevor Wistaff, and Adrian Kennedy.
Location: Byron Bay, NSW
Size of Team: 100
Website: www.zepto.com.au
Who is your ideal customer ?:
Zepto is Australia's leading bank account to bank account real-time payments and open banking platform. We currently facilitate circa $50bn in payment value annually across both the BECS (traditional direct debit) and NPP (real-time payment) platforms. We support over 300 merchants locally from Australia Post, Ladbrokes, MoneyMe, Novatti through to SuperHero, Binance and 13Cabs.
We feel deeply that the combination of Real-Time payments, Open Banking and ultimately Blockchain technology will continue to enable new possibilities in payments that help differentiate overall product and service.
Accelerating expectations, technology advances and regulatory change have delivered a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine payments. We are excited to work with our customers and partners who want to part of the movement to create a better way to pay for Australians.
Why would someone work for your company ?:
At Zepto we believe in the power of positive human experiences, and that a deep sense of belonging creates cohesion in our culture. Being founded in Byron Bay means we are naturally drawn to new thinking and fresh perspectives, and connected to the essence of spirit and community.
The Founder story - people love that we were born by a need from our founders for a better way to manage their cash flow in their successful tourism business. They align to the mission of powering the movement of value through the economy.
Our remote work culture - work from anywhere with strong virtual connectivity and a Byron Bay HQ
We're building a pioneering FinTech business together alongside peers from some of the best Australian tech teams, payment companies, top tier legal firms and global tech businesses so we've got what it takes to succeed
All employees partake in ESOP so they will be rewarded upon our long term success
Current Investors : AirTree Ventures and Decade Partners (Series A, $25M)
Recent Milestone: The past year has been huge for Zepto. Our active merchant customer base has grown to more than 350 across a range of verticals and sectors including lending, trading platforms, property and real estate, gaming, transport, subscriptions, collections, and others. Last year we became the first fintech to be both directly connected to the New Payments Platform’s real-time payment rails, and hold an unrestricted open-banking accreditation under the ACCC’s Consumer Data Right. As of 30 August 2022, Zepto had registered 1.35 million of the 11.88 million active PayIDs in Australia––that’s more than 11% of all existing PayIDs. We are blown away by that considering we’re playing against the big 4 banks in this space.
Why the name ?: As Split Payments evolved, it became clear that the business name was more a reflection of where the business had come from, not where it was headed. The word Zepto had been bubbling away in the mind of company founder Trevor Wistaff for a while and, as we considered other names, we kept returning to it.
A zeptosecond is a trillionth of a billionth of a second. Zepto speaks not only to speed of innovation and real-time payments, but also of precision. It’s a fitting moniker for us.
Why did the business start?: After successfully exiting their skydiving business our founders set about solving their biggest business frustration they had as merchants: slow, costly, data-blind payments.
Simply receiving money in a timely manner was an enormous pain-point. They repeatedly asked themselves, "Why can't funds move in real-time directly from a customer's bank account into ours? Why the delays, expense and fraud? Wouldn’t instant refunds and disbursements be far better?
Surely there's a way to reduce back-office payment reconciliations?" After navigating the spaghetti mess of fragmented payment offerings they decided they could do a better job themselves. And so, the business that is now called Zepto was born.
From a garage in Byron Bay our determined team set out to build a platform which would enable businesses to get paid in real-time, with precision and tonnes of data. The Zepto platform does that and more. Zepto’s real-time, data-driven, account-to-account open banking payments platform enables merchants to make, manage and receive payments by connecting them directly to customers' bank accounts.
Fast forward a few years and Zepto is now the leading innovator and disruptor in the global payments landscape, transforming the way Australian businesses and consumers transact.