Grazzy lands $4.25M for hospitality payment and tipping platform

Employee payments platform Grazzy has raised $4.25 million in seed funding.

The investment from Next Coast Ventures and Tuesday Capital brings the company’s total seed round to $6.8 million.

Texas-based Grazzy, which works with hotels, bars and restaurants, plans to use the funding to expand its digital tipping and same-day pay services.

Companies that use Grazzy enable consumers to digitally tip hotel and restaurant staff by scanning a QR code, and those workers can access the money immediately.

The investment will also go towards integrating Grazzy’s platform with property management systems and point of sale technology.

“The annual cost of voluntary hourly staff turnover for U.S. businesses is over $100 billion, with most leaving for financial reasons. By addressing the financial wellness of those employees, we can reduce turnover and improve lives,” says Russell Lemmer, founder and CEO of Grazzy.

“Even as hourly pay rates increase, we know that cash constraints have meant meaningfully less earnings for service industry workers who depend on tips to supplement their hourly wages. We're on a mission to fix that. Our digital, employee-centric platform helps those folks make more money, use it the same day, and save and spend in better ways.”

Thomas Ball, co-founder and managing partner of Next Coast Ventures, says: ”There is a clear need in the market for a digital solution that helps improve the lives of hourly workers in the hospitality industry. Grazzy's ability to serve the complex needs of the enterprise makes them unique to the landscape. The product and the team's proven ability to deliver at scale makes Grazzy the most powerful player in the market today.”