WEPAY LAUNCHES PAYMENT PRODUCT TO HELP GROUPS COLLECT AND MANAGE MONEY ONLINE

An Online Alternative to Cash, Spreadsheets and the 2.2 Billion Paper Checks People in the US Write Each Other Every Year

WePay, an online payment service that makes it easy for groups to collect, manage and spend money, has released a public beta of its group payment product. The site eliminates the hassle of collecting and managing group finances, while also helping to promote transparency and accountability.

WePay was founded by Bill Clerico (24) and Rich Aberman (25), two East-coast transplants that want to change the way people pay one another – from roommates collecting rent and utilities to large clubs and organizations collecting membership dues or soliciting donations.

“Our goal is to become the easiest way to collect money online,” said co- founder and CEO Clerico, whose company is backed by some of the most well known investors and payment entrepreneurs in the world, including August Capital, Max Levchin (the founder of PayPal), Ron Conway (early investor in Google, Facebook and Twitter), Eric Dunn (former CTO and CFO of Intuit), and others.

WePay allows users to create free FDIC-insured accounts and “share” them with others to maintain transparency. From these accounts, users can send electronic bills (which can be paid with bank accounts or credit cards) and spend funds with a WePay VISA® prepaid card, paper checks, or electronic transfers.

Clubs, organizations, and associations of all sizes can use WePay to send bills and collect money, solicit donations, send reimbursements, and spend money transparently.

“WePay is a lot easier to use than PayPal, especially when you’re trying to collect money from a lot of different people,” says WePay co-founder Aberman.“But the real difference between WePay and PayPal is that WePay allows users to create separate accounts for different things– like an account for your roommates and a totally separate one for a group vacation.”

Unlike PayPal, WePay makes it easy to keep funds separate and to avoid mixing group finances with personal ones.

WePay has been in public beta for the past six months and has received rave reviews from early users, who are able to collect money for as little as 50¢ per transaction.

Kara Casey, a recent college grad, uses WePay to manage collecting and paying fees for her 15-player softball team.

“WePay has made the collection and payment process stress free for everyone involved,” said Casey. “I am able to quickly send ‘bills’ to my teammates and I’m notified when they submit payment. My favorite part is that WePay sends reminders directly to teammates with a balance due. This eliminates the discomfort of having to remind friends that they owe me money.”

Clerico and Aberman first met as Presidential Scholars at Boston College, where Clerico studied computer science and Aberman majored in economics, philosophy and political science.

After graduating in 2007, Clerico began working as an investment banker, and Aberman worked in business development for a startup before leaving for law school at NYU. In August 2008, they founded WePay and a year later they were accepted into Y Combinator, a start-up accelerator launched by Viaweb founder Paul Graham. In December 2009, WePay raised $1.65 million from August Capital and others.

For more information about the company, see the website at www.wepay.com

See an example of how the political fundraising module works: http://rodriguesforsenate.com/contribute.html