Rain raised $75 million in a Series B round led by Prosus in April 2025, bringing total funding to $191 million. The round included participation from Nextalia Ventures, Spark Growth Ventures, QED Investors, and Invus Opportunities.

The company previously raised $116 million in Series A funding in March 2023, which included $66 million in equity led by QED Investors and $50 million in debt. Rain also secured a $300 million credit facility from Sound Point Capital to fund wage advances.

Key investors across rounds include Prosus, QED Investors, Invus Opportunities, Nextalia Ventures, and Spark Growth Ventures, with Sound Point Capital providing debt financing for the company's lending operations.

Rain is an earned wage access platform that connects directly to employer payroll and time-and-attendance systems to calculate what employees have already earned in real-time, then allows workers to access those wages instantly before their scheduled payday.

The platform integrates with major payroll providers like Workday, ADP, UKG, and Paychex. Once connected, Rain continuously tracks employee hours and calculates accrued wages. Workers can open the Rain mobile app or access the service directly through their company's Workday interface and request immediate payment of their earned wages.

When an employee requests payment, Rain fronts the money instantly through three options: immediate ACH transfer to their bank account for a $3 fee, free transfer to a Rain-branded Visa debit card, or free next-day ACH transfer. On the regular payday, Rain automatically recovers the advanced funds through a single payroll deduction file that the employer processes.

The platform includes financial wellness features like spending guardrails that employers can configure, automatic savings sweeps that move a percentage of wages into savings accounts, and budgeting tools designed to reduce reliance on payday loans. Rain also provides 24/7 customer support and typically implements new clients within 45 days without requiring changes to existing payroll schedules.

The company recently launched embedded integration within Workday, making Rain the first earned wage access provider to operate natively inside the HRIS platform without requiring separate login credentials or app downloads.

Rain operates a B2B2C model where employers contract with Rain to provide earned wage access as an employee benefit, while individual workers interact directly with Rain's platform to access their wages.

The company generates revenue primarily through transaction fees charged to employees who opt for instant wage access. Workers pay $3 for immediate ACH transfers to their bank accounts, while transfers to Rain's branded debit card are free but generate interchange revenue. Next-day ACH transfers are also free, creating a tiered pricing structure that encourages adoption of Rain's card product.

Rain's cost structure centers on funding the wage advances until regular payday, typically 1-14 days depending on when employees request access. The company uses a combination of its own balance sheet and credit facilities to provide this short-term financing. Implementation and ongoing integration costs are relatively low since Rain leverages existing payroll infrastructure rather than requiring new systems.

The business model creates a flywheel effect where higher employee adoption at existing clients increases transaction volume and revenue per customer. Employers benefit from improved retention and reduced recruitment costs, while Rain captures value from the financial services layer it provides to hourly workers.

Rain's partnership with Marqeta for card issuing allows the company to offer a complete financial product stack while outsourcing the regulatory and operational complexity of card programs. This asset-light approach enables rapid scaling without significant infrastructure investment.

DailyPay dominates the enterprise market with over 900 clients, 4 million employees, and $6 billion in annual transfers. The company offers similar instant access for $2.99 or free next-day transfers to their branded Visa card, with deep integrations across major payroll systems including Workday, Oracle, and UKG. DailyPay's scale advantages include the largest funding pool in the industry and first-mover brand recognition that helps secure multi-year Fortune 500 contracts.

Payactiv differentiates through regulatory credibility, holding a CFPB no-action letter and offering the broadest product suite combining earned wage access with savings, budgeting, and discount marketplace features. The company leverages bank partnerships with institutions like U.S. Bank and Citizens for embedded distribution, monetizing through both interchange revenue and per-use fees while piloting subscription models.

Tapcheck raised $225 million in April 2025 and serves 12,000 employer sites with 300 payroll integrations, positioning itself on white-glove customer experience and real-time transfer capabilities. Branch offers free instant earned wage access funded entirely by interchange revenue, bundling contractor payroll services and expanding into broader financial services for gig workers.

These competitors are pushing the market toward free instant access models, putting pressure on Rain's $3 transaction fee structure. The competitive intensity is highest in Rain's target mid-market and enterprise employer segment, where players differentiate primarily on integration depth, funding costs, and compliance positioning.

Consumer cash advance apps like Earnin, Dave, and Brigit represent indirect competition by providing wage advances without employer integration. However, these players face increasing regulatory scrutiny and are being displaced as employers adopt integrated solutions like Rain that provide better employee experiences and compliance protection.

Rain plans to launch an EWA-secured credit card in late 2025 that automatically adjusts credit limits based on employees' real-time accrued wages. This product moves Rain beyond single-use wage advances into everyday spending, enabling the company to capture interchange revenue and potential revolving credit economics that could multiply average revenue per user far beyond the current $3 transaction fee model.

The company is expanding into HSA administration with a spend-anywhere reimbursement product that allows users to pay medical expenses on any card and receive near-instant HSA reimbursement. Planned autosave accounts will add recurring deposit flows, expanding Rain's addressable market from the $25-30 billion earned wage access software market into the $110 billion U.S. consumer savings technology and $100 billion HSA administration segments.

Rain's embedded integration within Workday positions the company to access Workday's 65 million employee footprint, with native placement potentially driving 2-3x higher employee penetration rates compared to standalone apps. The company is targeting expansion from small and medium businesses into large enterprise accounts with over 300 employees, leveraging deep payroll APIs and automated onboarding to reduce IT implementation barriers.

Channel partnerships with companies like Marqeta for card issuing and payroll marketplace listings create opportunities for Rain to become a plug-in benefit that HR outsourcers and benefits brokers can resell, expanding distribution without heavy customer acquisition costs.

While Rain currently focuses on the U.S. market serving 2.5-3.5 million employees, the company's Series B funding from Prosus, which has a global fintech portfolio including PayU and Remitly, creates potential pathways for international expansion. Rain's SAP SuccessFactors marketplace listing provides access to multinational employers seeking consolidated benefits across their global workforce.

Markets in Latin America and Southeast Asia represent natural expansion opportunities given similar wage volatility and payday loan reliance patterns, though regulatory frameworks for earned wage access remain underdeveloped in most international markets.

Regulatory uncertainty: The CFPB is developing new interpretive rules for earned wage access that could reclassify these services as lending products subject to Truth in Lending Act requirements. Such changes could force Rain to restructure its fee model, add complex disclosures, or face restrictions on how it markets instant wage access to employees.

Fee compression: Competition is intensifying around free instant access models, with players like Branch offering zero-fee transfers funded entirely by interchange revenue. This trend could pressure Rain to eliminate its $3 instant transfer fee, forcing greater reliance on card adoption and interchange income that generates lower per-transaction revenue.

Funding costs: Rain's business model requires fronting wages until regular payday, creating exposure to rising interest rates and credit market conditions. If the company's cost of capital increases significantly or credit facilities become unavailable, Rain would need to raise fees or reduce service availability, potentially impacting growth and competitive positioning.