Zeller raised A$25M in one of Australia’s largest pre-launch Series A funding rounds.

• Led by Lee Fixel’s recently launched investment firm Addition, alongside Square Peg and Apex Capital, the funding will be used to scale up Zeller’s product development and hiring ahead of their imminent launch. 
• Zeller will level the playing field for Australian businesses by delivering smarter payments technology and financial services that enable merchants to accelerate cash flow through tools to accept payments, manage finances, and pay recipients fast.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – Zeller, the integrated payments and financial services solution, discreetly raised A$25 million in Series A funding last year, as it accelerates product development and hiring ahead of its imminent launch. Zeller’s Series A raise is one of the largest ever for an Australian company pre-launch. 

Zeller is using the funds to accelerate product development and engineering capabilities, whilst also investing heavily in growth; bolstering its marketing and sales function, as well as building a local customer success team to help service and support Australian merchants.

Since coming out of stealth in July last year, Zeller has rapidly scaled its team to 50 people, making 38 new hires in the past six months to boost its capabilities across product, engineering, strategy, risk and compliance. The hiring push amounts to over 310% growth in headcount, and is expected to continue as Zeller prepares to launch.

The Series A funding round was led by Lee Fixel’s recently launched investment firm, Addition, and supported by Zeller’s existing investment partners Square Peg and Apex Capital. Zeller successfully raised A$6.3m in a seed funding round in June 2020.

Expected to bring its first products to market imminently, Zeller will deliver an integrated payments and financial services solution that enables businesses to accelerate their cash flow through tools to accept payments, manage their finances, and pay recipients fast. By seamlessly combining these services into a fully-integrated out-of-the-box solution, Zeller will significantly reduce the time business owners spend on finding business banking providers, completing long applications, onboarding, and connecting disparate solutions.

“Our experience tells us that Australian merchants still hit roadblocks when it comes to things as simple as accepting card payments, managing cash flow, and accessing their hard-earned funds. The steps taken to open a transaction account should be counted in minutes, not days. In a modern, digital-first economy, these things should be effortless” said Ben Pfisterer, Zeller CEO and co-founder. “These are longstanding problems that Zeller will solve by bringing together the tools businesses need to accept payments, manage their finances, and pay recipients. Zeller will deliver a true alternative to business banking for merchants who are starting new ventures, or those already running who are looking for a smarter alternative.”

The funding round was led by investment firm Addition, which was set up by Lee Fixel. Some of Addition’s recent investments include TripActions’ Series E round and Fast’s Series B.

Lee Fixel, Founder of Addition, said: “There is an immediate and significant opportunity to disrupt traditional business banking, and Zeller has the experience, integrated suite of products, and strategic vision to provide a viable alternative to the status quo. At a time when a surge of creativity and entrepreneurial spirit is fuelling new businesses everywhere, what Ben, Dom and the Zeller team are building promises to be a powerful driver of business growth in Australia.”

Square Peg’s Paul Bassat said: “The Zeller team has made phenomenal progress in the past few months fine tuning products, with some impressive hires joining to build on the already strong foundations laid by Ben and Dom. We’re proud to support the team at Zeller as they prepare to launch products that will help Australian businesses get back on their feet and support the next wave of entrepreneurs.”

Zeller CEO Ben Pfisterer and COO Dominic Yap have significant industry experience, with Pfisterer having launched Square in Australia then going on to oversee their APAC operations. Prior to Square, Pfisterer held leadership roles at Visa, NAB and Jetstar. Yap also having worked at Square overseeing Strategy, previously worked at PwC along with other consulting firms.

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