London, UK, 27 April 2021: Osu, a new invoicing and payment-app for the self-employed, has today announced its partnership with leading Open Banking infrastructure provider Yapily. The partnership will see Osu provide self-employed professionals with a way to receive payments without fees or settlement delays.
There are four and a half million self-employed professionals in the UK and until now, many of these businesses have had to rely on time-consuming payment processes riddled with frustrating issues to manage their day-to-day finances. At a time when the self-employed are already taking a hit due to the pandemic, eliminating the cost of getting paid and automating tasks such as sending invoices, accepting payments, and chasing customers is critical to managing their cashflow.
Through harnessing Yapily’s Open Banking infrastructure, Osu is enabling a seamless payments experience for its customers. By building it’s payment request flow on top of Yapily’s API infrastructure, rather than integrating with a card-based payment service provider, Osu removes traditional pain points affecting the self-employed when it comes to payments, such as high fees, settlement delays, and error-prone bank transfers.
Osu, which launched in 2020, gives freelancers and the self-employed access to cutting edge payment tools. Through its easy-to use payments app, Osu lightens the load for self-employed professionals across the UK, taking care of their business and helping them achieve more for their efforts: more earnings, more time, and more opportunity to build. A virtual PA working behind the scenes for the self-employed who aren’t big enough to have wider teams.
To date, the Osu app has helped over 1,000 self-employed professionals build and grow their operations, assisting them to successfully accept hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of payments. With a recent seeding round raising more than £2m, Osu now plans to increase its customer base to 10,000 active users by the end of 2021.
Noam Nevo, CEO & Co-founder of Osu commented, “Our aim has always been to help the self-employed and empower them when it comes to managing payments - which in the current climate is more important than ever. Many of our customers are one-man bands or micro-businesses without dedicated finance or admin teams. Our app allows the self-employed to receive payments without fees or settlement delays so that they can carry on with their day-to-day with no worry of losing out on vital funds. Yapily’s infrastructure enables this to happen, so it was a no-brainer to partner with them.”
“We’re planning on introducing a host of new business management features this year, and with support from Yapily, we believe our offering will continue to make life easier for the self-employed as they look to rebuild from a challenging year.”
Stefano Vaccino, CEO of Yapily said, “This partnership is an exciting development for Open Banking and demonstrates the benefits our infrastructure can bring to the changing - and growing - landscape of the self-employed.
“The past year has been exceptionally challenging for the self-employed, so providing them with the right tools to alleviate financial stresses is critical for supporting their recovery. Open Banking removes hidden payment fees and allows these professionals to focus their time and effort on doing what they love.
“Our partnership with Osu very much aligns with our mission of driving financial inclusion. We’re looking forward to how this partnership develops into other innovative solutions that will, no doubt, prove invaluable to business owners.”
About Yapily (yapily.com)
Yapily is an enterprise connectivity provider, allowing companies to share financial data and access payment infrastructure. Designed and built for Open Finance, Yapily enables fairer and better financial products for everyone.
The company has raised $18.4m in funding to date, and provides infrastructure for industry leaders including American Express, Intuit Quickbooks, Moneyfarm and BUX. Headquartered in London, UK, Yapily employs over 80 people and continues to scale rapidly.
About Osu (osu.com)
Osu is a subscription-based invoicing and payment app for the self-employed. With instant payments, zero transaction fees, invoicing, automated reminders, and more features coming soon, Osu is helping empower the self-employed to take better control of their payment management. Users receive a 30-day free trial of the Osu app with no commitment and no need to provide any card details. After 30 days, they have a choice of 3 monthly plans of £4.99 (Lite), £9.99 (Standard), or £19.99 (Pro).
