INTRODUCING TREZEO: THE ONLY BUSINESS ACCOUNT SUPPORTING THE FINANCIAL STABILITY OF THE GIG ECONOMY

Trezeo, the new fintech focused on delivering financial stability to the self-employed, today announces its equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs to help fully launch its income smoothing business account product and kickstart its growth among the UK’s self-employed and gig economy workers.

Since the recession, the ONS estimates that the number of self-employment workers in the UK has grown exponentially; there are almost 4.8m, which is a 50% increase in the last 10 years. This new sector of workers is set to outstrip public sector employment by 2018[1]. In fact, a survey conducted last year by the RSA found that there are now an estimated 1.1 million people in Britain’s gig economy, which is nearly as many workers as in NHS England[2].

However, the boom of the gig economy over the last few years has laid way for a constant standoff between the platforms and their partners. Many of which have been portrayed as taking advantage of lower income workers by not giving them the same rights as employees, whilst they see themselves as providing everything they can under current employment definitions. On the flip side, gig economy workers want, and need, less precarity around their work, whilst retaining their freedom and independence.

Time and time again, the key challenge facing the self-employed is uncertainty around security of income and fluctuating earnings, which have wider financial implications around savings and accessing more traditional financial products. If these people can’t stabilise their week to week finances, pensions and insurance are an impossibility to prepare for.

This is where Trezeo comes in; poised to create a new financial category to ease the short-term financial volatility of, and in time financially empower, the self-employed.

Trezeo is a business account aimed at the self-employed, providing customers with a regular, defined income. Trezeo’s income smoothing service uses AI and machine learning to turn unpredictable income streams into reliable and regular payments, with no interest or hidden fees involved. They do this by identifying customers’ average income, and when they dip below it one week – whether because work was slow, they were sick or just took a day off – Trezeo tops them up to their average and gets paid back when the customer earns again. They also help customers build savings without having to think about it, as well as access to income advances for emergencies.

Trezeo’s aim is to help the self-employed (including freelancers, consultants, giggers and other independent workers) build a predictable income and start to plan for a more empowered financial future. The platform is already live in the AppStore and PlayStore, has received approval from the FCA as a Registered Payment Institution, and is finalising its Consumer Credit Authorisation to become the first such service to offer income smoothing for independent workers in the UK.

Co-founded by fintech veteran CEO Garrett Cassidy and financial innovator CTO Flavien Charlon, the pair became aware of these financial challenges when working on an idea to apply innovations in consumer banking to small businesses. Garrett is a computer science graduate with an MBA who has worked for Goldman Sachs, Ulster Bank and Irish VC-backed startup Marrakech. He is a former programme director at Bank of Ireland, and ran the first fintech accelerator at the NDRC, and prior to starting Trezeo he was European managing director of peer-to-peer payments technology company, Circle.com. Flavien is an engineering graduate from the Ecole centrale de Lyon in France. He moved to Ireland in 2007 to work at Microsoft and founded pioneering blockchain technology company Coinprism in 2014. He is also the author of the Blockchain Open Assets protocol, used by Nasdaq.

Garrett Cassidy, Trezeo Co-Founder & CEO, said: “The vast majority of today’s gig economy are working in this way out of choice, but today’s world still isn’t set up for them. Whilst technology is enabling and driving the growth in self-employment, the self-employed are still being ignored by the mainstream financial industry. This is where tech-based solutions, led by AI, can address key frustrations that add real value for them.

What Trezeo is doing in terms of income smoothing, helps satisfy both parties. We’re helping gig economy platforms offer additional support to their partners, by providing a fair and transparent way to stabilise their income and plan for the future. But more importantly, we are reducing the biggest issue among these workers around instability so that they can just focus on working when they want. We align with both sides by addressing a core issue, using the data available through the platform to make it a seamless process for both parties.”

Dr. Michael Galvin, Trezeo advisor and transportation industry veteran, said: “Over the 38 -years I’ve worked with self-employed drivers across Europe, I’ve seen the issues they face being self-employed. By the nature of their work, some weeks they earn more and some weeks they earn less, but no organisation has been able to solve this volatility until now. I believe Trezeo has the team and solution to make being self-employed a bit less stressful.”

Proceeds from the Seedrs campaign will be used to onboard and service initial pilot customers and partners, as well as to enrich the core account product and include additional financial products. For further information, please visit: www.seedrs.com/trezeo.