1. Pay.com.au
pay.com.au take an innovative approach that linked business payment processing to a rewards accumulation system. See their Smart50 rank.
Revenue: $56.8 million
Growth: 385%
Founders: Edward Alder, Grant Austin
Head office: Elsternwick, VIC
Year founded: 2020
Employees: 75
Industry: Financial services
Website: pay.com.au
How pay.com.au started
Pay.com.au decided in 2020 to challenge tradition with an innovative approach that linked business payment processing to a rewards accumulation system. This method delivers dual advantages to customers by streamlining payment processes for both bank account and credit card transactions, while maximising rewards for spending that historically did not qualify for rewards.
Growth
The company faced the possibility of a growth bottleneck, however, when its traditional high-touch sale approach threatened to overwhelm staff and underwhelm customers. “Our lead acquisition strategy was labour-intensive and inefficient, limiting our ability to scale effectively,” says co-founder Edward Alder.
But a decision to overhaul the company’s entire customer acquisition strategy – shifting from a leads-based model to a self-signup approach focused on customer activation – was transformative, increasing pay.com.au’s weekly acquisitions tenfold without a corresponding increase in staff. “This allowed us to scale rapidly while maintaining a lean operation,” says Alder.
Where to next
Over the coming 12 months, pay.com.au’s strategy includes enhancing customer rewards through new products and partnerships. expanding market reach via new channels, and scaling operations by automating back-end processes and optimising workflows. The company is also preparing for a larger capital raise by refining its pitch to attract significant investors.
