After seven years in Sacramento, California, online child-support startup SupportPay has relocated its headquarters to Charlotte.
SupportPay, which was founded in 2014 and moved here in April, is a child-support payment platform created to reduce conflict between parents that are divorced or separated. The online and mobile app allows parents raising a child apart to organize, pay and track child support, alimony and shared expenses under a single tool. That helps eliminate manual processes and the need for separated spouses to have complex financial interactions, which can be an emotional task.
SupportPay is also free for victims of domestic violence, helping them avoid financial hurdles and enabling them to have a safe way to communicate and collect their assets. All other members have monthly pricing options of $14.99 for single users or $19.99 for families. SupportPay's annual pricing works out to $8.33 a month for single users or $12.49 for families.
"We really want to be the modern-family financial platform," said Sheri Atwood, founder and CEO of SupportPay, referring to single, divorced or blended families. "I started this to end or reduce the conflict that children have to be part of. Children deserve financial and emotional support from both of their parents, and they don't deserve to be put in the middle."
Atwood, who is now based in Charlotte, said she moved the company here because she believes the area is the "next up-and-coming place" for technology and startups. Its employees are currently working remotely while Atwood looks for office space in Charlotte.
How SupportPay came about
Atwood started SupportPay after her own personal experiences. She said her parents underwent a horrific divorce when she was a child. Atwood then faced a divorce of her own several years ago but made certain that it remained amicable. That's after realizing life after divorce can often be worse than the process of filing for one, especially if children are involved.
"So as I always say, the top reasons of why you divorce or separate is because of money and communication," she said. "But when you have children together you have to communicate about money, so it doesn't actually get better. It gets worse."
Atwood and her ex-husband have a daughter together, so she understands that court-ordered child support only covers basic life expenses. It doesn't include the cost of education, medical, child care or other related expenses.
Following her divorce, Atwood was a single mom, traveling the world for work and then tasked with managing shared child expenses with her ex-husband.
"I was like, 'This is a whole other full-time job,'" she said. "And so that's where I was like, 'There's got to be a better way,' and was surprised that there was nothing out there. And that's when I started SupportPay."
She also noticed that among the top reasons people avoid paying child support is because they don't trust the money is going to the child, but instead supporting the lifestyle of their former spouse. One of the benefits of SupportPay is that the paying parent receives full transparency of what they're paying for, and, "If they don't agree with the item, they can dispute it right in the app," Atwood said.
Atwood's comeback at SupportPay
Atwood was fired as CEO of SupportPay in 2017 after what she calls "a bad deal."
In December 2016, SupportPay received a $4 million infusion of venture capital led by Bethesda, Maryland-based Fenway Summer Ventures, with additional funding from Folsom-based Moneta Ventures and Chicago’s Continental Advisors LLC, according to the Sacramento Business Journal. SupportPay had raised nearly $7 million in venture capital at the time.
"So, in the middle of 2017, I was fired from my own company for nothing to do with the business, but only a completely personal reason that I'm under strict (non-disclosure agreements) to not say the reason," she told CBJ. "So, I was devastated."
Early in 2018, Atwood bought the company back and began a relaunch. The financiers who fired her had liquidated the company.
"So I used the rest of my savings, took out a loan, and I bought SupportPay back," she said. "And since then, I have been incredibly selective as far as who I allow to invest in my company. I never want to make that mistake that I made the first time."
Plans for growth
Since relaunching in 2018, SupportPay has raised $2.9 million in funding. Atwood said the startup will close on a seed round later this month.
SupportPay also launched a beta test in July of a new employee benefits offering. Employers can include SupportPay's financial management service as a benefit for caregivers. The offering will officially go live on Dec. 1, Atwood said.
About 72,000 parents use SupportPay across the U.S., as well as in 70 other countries. In the Carolinas, more than 3,000 parents use the platform. SupportPay can be used not only to manage children's expenses, but shared pet finances as well.
SupportPay has 10 full-time employees and 21 contractors and developers. Atwood said she hopes to triple the company's headcount next year.
