Gig Wage, the local fintech behind technology that empowers 1099 workers with more control, has welcomed Clarisa Lindenmeyer as its chief of staff to the CEO and chief brand officer. In this latest addition to the executive team, Lindenmeyer will work to build the Office of the CEO while simultaneously expanding and enhancing the brand’s image.

After raising an additional $3.25 million in venture debt from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in order to bring on financial flexibility, Gig Wage believes it is perfect timing for Lindenmeyer to join its team.

With over 15 years of experience in B2B2C marketing and PR, Lindenmeyer will help support this growth by creating a financial safety net for under and unbanked workers. Having worked horizontally across organizations, her unique perspective will be valuable when working alongside Gig Wage Founder and CEO, Craig J. Lewis, who is focused on growing exponentially and expanding globally. 

“I’ve known Clarisa since her time at Tech Wildcatters and watched her build a phenomenal business since then,” Lewis says. “She has the rare ability to interface with startups, non-profits, global corporations and everything in between while finding unique and impactful ways to drive meaningful improvements and outcomes. I love her unconventional, modern approach to brand building and our shared vision for the importance of the office of the CEO. She’s a massive win for the company and me specifically as a CEO.”

Prior to Gig Wage, Lindenmeyer, a Mexican American wife and mother of three, formed her own consulting practice, Proximity to Power, which specializes in high level strategy for the C-Suite. For the last 5 years, the business strategist has built a diverse list of long standing clients at her consultancy including: Vice President of Community Engagement on Dallas’s The Family Place Board, Board of Directors for Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity and Executive Committee for the United Way Social Innovation Accelerator.

In her new role, Lindenmeyer will be added the short list of Dallas women holding C-level roles within the tech community. To advance Gig Wage’s DEI goals, she is joining Gig Wage’s growing C-Suite alongside Ethan Austin, Chief Strategy Officer and formerly Managing Director of Techstars; Anna Enns, Chief Product Officer; Robert Belsky, Vice President of Finance and formerly of Bloomberg and J.P. Morgan and Rocco Stanzione, CTO; as well as newly hired go-to-market leaders — Brandi Utria, Senior Vice President of Business Development and former Vice President of Business Development at Asure Software; and Desmon Lewis, Senior Enterprise Sales Executive and former Director of Sales at Citi.

“It is an enormous opportunity to work alongside the incredible team at Gig Wage, especially now,” Lindenmeyer said in a statement. “Independent workers and lifestyles are our future. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to the future of work: blended workforces, remote work, on-demand workers. This fluid and interconnected workforce is becoming the norm. We all want the ability to design our lives – to work how and when we want and we should get paid accordingly. Gig Wage makes this possible.”

Gig Wage is a payments platform—created specifically for the booming 1099 economy—working to make it simple and easy for businesses to pay independent contractors. The Dallas-based startup provides a system for onboarding, direct deposits, payment tracking, 1099 compliance, and more through its platform. Companies can sign up for these features through monthly pricing, while its services are always free for contractors.

Gig Wage wants to shape the modern financial infrastructure for what its team calls the ‘Future of Work.’ The fintech is built to tackle complex challenges around contractor payroll, payments, and compliance. It was founded by CEO Craig Lewis in 2014 to navigate the money side of contractor-dependent businesses.

The gig economy pays around 65 to 75 million people as independent contractors, amounting to an estimated $2 trillion in transactions. But, the payroll structure is designed for traditional work situations—leaving 1099 workers to lose 2-20 percent of their income. 

The team’s solutions benefit both sides of a transaction: It enables employers to instantly pay 1099 workers with more control, flexibility, and scale, and gives independent contractors a convenient and efficient way to receive payments.

Last October, Gig Wage raised a $7.5 million Series A round to boost its seamless, reliable banking platform. The funding was led by Green Dot, a financial technology and bank holding company based in Pasadena, California.

The deal went beyond an investment: Green Dot is now the infrastructure bank partner to Gig Wage, allowing the startup to add Green Dot’s solutions to its instant payments platform for gig workers and the huge number of underbanked Americans. Gig Wage and Green Dot want to create an infrastructure that allows everyone to access their money. Together, the companies hope to offer the first-ever “comprehensive end-to-end solution for the gig economy.”

Then, in January 2021, Gig Wage raised an additional $2.5 million to continue boosting its seamless, reliable banking platform.

The latest round brings the startup’s total to funding raised to-date to $16.45 million.

The additional $3.25 million in venture debt from Silicon Valley Bank was a strategic financial decision to bring on “additional financial flexibility at competitive terms that will be used to invest in key growth areas of the business.”

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