Hello Clever has launched Clever Connect, a real-time payments platform for businesses that distribute funds to multiple parties.
The Australian fintech is positioning the platform as a simpler alternative to existing payment platforms such as Stripe Connect.
It offers SaaS platforms and marketplaces greater control over merchant payouts without requiring extensive engineering resources.
Clever Connect provides each merchant and revenue stream with a dedicated account. The platform connects these accounts directly to domestic real-time payment rails, routing funds to the correct merchant when a customer pays.
This bypasses the traditional model of sweeping funds into a shared pool for later reconciliation.
The platform is currently live in Australia using the New Payments Platform (NPP) and in Japan via the Zengin System, which supports real-time domestic bank transfers.
Hello Clever plans to expand the service to the United States later this year using FedNow and RTP.
Merchants in live markets can hold settled funds in their local currency and use these dedicated accounts to send and receive domestic transfers directly.
Caroline Tran, CEO at Hello Clever, said payments become increasingly complex as platforms add new merchants or enter new markets.
“We built Clever Connect so money moves in real time to the right place the moment a customer pays, and so growing platforms stay in control of how it all works,”
Tran said.
She noted that tracking where merchant funds are held often falls on platforms as they scale. Clever Connect integrates dedicated accounts, local virtual accounts, and real-time rail connections into a single system.
Tran said platforms are under pressure to improve payment speeds as real-time payments expand globally.
She highlighted that, in some instances, merchants still wait up to a month to receive customer payments. This is due to complexities in internal payment systems.
Clever Connect is available now, with local treasury accounts currently live in Australia and Japan. Hello Clever plans to launch the platform in the US later this year.
Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Australia, based on image by Hello Clever
