Upward helps startups remove financial infrastructure roadblocks

When startups build fintech products for independent workers, creators, or small businesses, one challenge tends to surface quickly: money movement. Paying users quickly and compliantly can take months of banking integrations, legal reviews, and vendor contracts, often slowing growth before a product ever reaches scale.

Upward was created to remove that friction.

Co-founded in 2021 by Aaron Gregory, Chris Hasz, and Danielle Hill, the team built a platform to help companies embed payments, cards, and banking tools directly into their products without having to assemble financial infrastructure on their own.

Upward operates with dual headquarters in Milwaukee and Seattle and employs a 20-person team. Its technology sits behind a growing number of platforms that need to move money quickly and responsibly, from instant worker payouts to branded card programs, allowing startups to launch features in weeks rather than months.

The company’s approach is rooted in experience. The founders previously worked at Remitly, where they saw firsthand how complex it can be for consumer-facing platforms to bring financial products to market. With Upward, they set out to build a simpler, unified system designed specifically for companies serving nontraditional users such as gig workers, creators, and solo entrepreneurs.

Upward client TipHaus, a Seattle-based company that builds financial tools for restaurant workers, uses the platform to power its HausMoney product, which allows workers to receive tips instantly rather than waiting for traditional payroll cycles. By embedding payouts directly into its software, TipHaus is able to focus its resources on scaling its product and customer base rather than building and maintaining its own financial infrastructure.

That focus has resonated with customers and investors. In November 2025, Upward raised $9.03 million in new funding, bringing its total capital raised to $12.28 million. The company now processes more than $10 million in monthly payment volume and reports strong year-over-year growth as more startups turn to embedded financial tools as a driver of user retention and scale.

As more software companies look to embed financial features into their products, Upward’s role is increasingly behind the scenes. By handling the complexity of payments, banking, and compliance, the company aims to help startups focus less on infrastructure and more on building, scaling, and serving their customers.