Alpharetta-based financial technology startup Gravy raised a $4.5 million Series A round led by Arlington Family Partners, according to a Feb. 19 announcement.
The startup, founded in 2017 and led by CEO Casey Graham, helps businesses with subscription-based revenue recover failed payments.
Gravy plans to hire 67 more people to its team of about 80 with the funding. It will also continue developing its customer service and technology offerings as well as acquire new clients through ramping up sales and marketing, according to the announcement. The startup raised a $1 million seed round in 2019.
Graham said Gravy will build out its integration capabilities to work with more payment processors and subscription managers and its insight capabilities to provide more data to its customers about the failed payments.
Graham and co-founder Renee Weber worked together at The Rocket Company, which provides coaching and resources to churches. At that company, the two realized that subscription customers did not respond to automated messages regarding their payment failures, so they set out to create a more personalized approach to those messages.
Ministry Brands acquired The Rocket Company at a higher offer because of the increased user retention that resulted from better payment messaging. Arlington Family Partners, based in Birmingham, Ala., managed the proceeds from The Rocket Company acquisition, according to the announcement.
With this model, Graham and Weber founded Gravy to combine automation and personalization in payment recovery. According to its website, Gravy has returned $149 million in payments to customers, which include Ministry Pass, Bat Club USA and Amy Porterfield.
"We're really proud to be leading what we call the Human AF movement," Graham said. "Anytime you have a problem, you want to take to a person. We're human-first, which is how we treat our team and our clients."
Gravy has a goal to return $1 billion in payments to its customers by 2023. The startup decided to take this Series A investment to scale quickly to reach that goal, Graham said.
The startup, which grew in 2020, faced minimal disruptions in workflow during the pandemic because its employees already interacted through Slack, Graham said.
One of its main points of growth came from LinkedIn. Gravy helps its employees with personal branding and becoming content creators, which became especially useful as people turned to the social media site to connect with others while working remotely.
"We started doing helpful content that had nothing to do with Gravy," Graham said. "About 45% of our inbound calls mentioned they saw us on LinkedIn."
Gravy sends either an email or text message to a customer whose payment has been declined and can walk that customer through the process of making a back payment and keeping their subscription active. It can also work with customers on individual payment plans if they are unhappy with the subscription, according to the company.
