Clair

Lending & Financing

Embedded earned wage access and digital banking that lives natively inside payroll and HR platforms.

Overview

Clair is an embedded Earned Wage Access (EWA) and digital banking provider that partners with payroll, HR, and scheduling platforms to offer on-demand pay and a Clair Spending Account (debit card + checking-like account) natively inside those platforms. Rather than sell to employers directly, Clair sells through partner integrations: employees of any company using a partner platform (such as Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll, 7shifts, or TriNet) can opt into Clair without their employer needing a separate vendor relationship. This embedded distribution model is Clair's primary differentiator versus direct-sold EWA peers like DailyPay or Payactiv. The consumer-facing pricing is free standard ACH access or $4.99 for an instant transfer to an external account; the Clair Spending Account itself charges no monthly or overdraft fees. Banking infrastructure (debit card, deposit account) is provided by Pathward N.A. (formerly MetaBank), which also originates the wage advances. Confirmed payroll and platform partners include Intuit QuickBooks Payroll, Gusto, Gusto Embedded, 7shifts, TriNet, Check, syncHR, and Eddy. As of May 2026, the platform was active in 148,000+ work locations across 29 industries. Founded in 2019 in New York by Nico Simko (CEO), Alex Kostecki, and Erich Nussbaumer. As of May 2025, Clair closed a $23.2M Series B led by Upfront Ventures, bringing total equity raised to $93.7M. The integration model for HR/payroll partners is API + white-label embed, with go-live averaging approximately 4 months. The company is SOC 2 certified.

Key features

• Embedded EWA inside partner platforms
• Clair Spending Account (debit + checking-like)
• Free standard ACH; $4.99 instant transfer
• Native integration with Gusto Embedded
• Pathward N.A. originates all advances
• API + white-label embedded UI