Volt collapse hits fintechs with butterfly effect

The collapse of Volt is sending shockwaves through the fintech sector as startups closely connected to the neobank, such as Parpera, scramble to regroup.

The fintech partnered with Volt for banking services, meaning its 500+ small business customers have lost banking, payments and cards functions until a new banking collaborator is found.

In a post to customers and investors, Parpera founder and CEO Daniel Cannizzaro explained that until alternative arrangements were made, they were unable to onboard new members and services for existing customers with a Volt bank account will cease on July 5, in line with the neobank’s shutdown.

“We are working with our other partners and taking steps towards identifying alternative options to resume our services to our members as soon as possible,” Cannizzaro wrote.

“Our priority now is to ensure your funds are quickly and easily returned to you. We kindly ask that you use your Parpera App to transfer your balance to a nominated bank account with another financial institution before 5 July 2022.”

Access to the Parpera Business Debit Mastercard has also been stopped.

Speaking to Startup Daily 24 hours on from the show news, Cannizzaro said they had been “overwhelmed with the positive and kind words of support from our members, investors, and the wider community” in response.

‍”I’m proud of the professionalism and swift action taken by our team to act in our members’ best interests in supporting them, in line with our values, during what is a very difficult time for all impacted,” he said.

“June was our best performing month in terms of member satisfaction and growth and further validated the need for Parpera and why our solution should continue to exist.

“Our team is focused on rebuilding and recovering so that we can get back to better serving the needs of our members and wider Australian business community in the near future.”

Parpera is an all-in-one business money platform for sole traders, freelancers, and entrepreneurs, and saw 80% month-on-month growth to 500 businesses within 3 months of its business debit card launch. Cannizzaro is looking to raise for the next stage of growth for his fintech. He raised $1.3 million in October last year as he prepared to launch Parpera.