Hello Clever processed over $3.5 billion, targets $100 million ARR

By Amara Osei

Hello Clever reports $17 million in revenue and 307% growth, with 110 employees based at its Sydney, NSW headquarters. Founders Caroline Tran and Gavin Nguyen started the financial-services company in 2021, and the business lists helloclever.co as its website.

Hello Clever also says it has processed more than $3.5 billion in payments across more than 25 currencies. Its offices now stand in Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh City and New York. The profile does not specify the reporting period for the revenue or growth figures.

What problem did Hello Clever set out to solve?

Tran and Nguyen said merchants were paying card fees, waiting days for funds to settle and running separate loyalty programs to bring customers back. They wanted to rethink a system that moved money from A to B without doing much else, according to the company.

Under the model Hello Clever describes, the ‘Buy-to-Earn’ offering uses real-time payments to give customers instant, merchant-funded cashback when they spend. The product combines the payment with its merchant-funded reward instead of leaving loyalty as a separate program.

In August 2022, the fintech processed Australia’s first consumer-to-business PayTo transaction. The milestone placed real-time payments at the center of Hello Clever’s product.

Why did Hello Clever build its own infrastructure?

Building a new payment method proved easier than taking it across borders, Hello Clever says. Rather than depend on another provider’s licences and banking infrastructure, the company chose to build its own foundations.

That choice made regulatory permissions and banking connections central to expansion. In Australia, Hello Clever secured an Australian Financial Services Licence.

Japan presented a different constraint: foreign payment providers cannot directly access the domestic banking system. Hello Clever integrated with GMO Aozora Net Bank.

The company also partnered with Banking Circle for collections, cross-border payments and settlement as it expands. Its own licences and core infrastructure remain central to the model it says it is building for overseas growth.

That structure links regulatory ownership with local banking access. Hello Clever uses its Australian licence and Japanese bank integration alongside Banking Circle’s servicing role as it builds toward further international expansion, according to the company.

What does the platform do now?

Hello Clever has moved beyond the original Buy-to-Earn model. Its platform now brings together real-time payments, instant cashback and Clever AI, which analyses transactions as they happen.

According to Hello Clever, Clever AI flags:

• Customer churn
• Unusual fees
• Pressure on margins

Real-time analysis extends the platform from payment execution into customer retention and merchant economics. Hello Clever says the tool surfaces those issues as transactions occur rather than confining the offering to payment and cashback.

The company now combines a customer-facing reward with merchant-facing analysis. Buy-to-Earn delivers merchant-funded cashback through real-time payments, while Clever AI examines live transaction data. Together, they broaden the platform beyond its original offer, according to Hello Clever.

Where does overseas expansion go next?

The US is the main focus for Hello Clever’s next stage of growth. The company already holds Money Transmitter Licences in three states and plans to add more as it builds out its US operations.

Hello Clever is also developing technology that automatically chooses the best route for each individual payment. The company says the system can select among:

• A bank rail
• A card network
• A wallet
• Another payment option

The technology addresses the route used to move each payment. It sits alongside the company’s real-time payments, instant cashback and Clever AI products.

Hello Clever describes the end goal as an “exchange for money movement.” It is aiming to grow annual recurring revenue to $100 million.

The US licence expansion, overseas partnerships and payment-routing technology will test whether Hello Clever can convert its payment volume into the targeted $100 million in annual recurring revenue. The company does not label its current $17 million revenue figure as annual recurring revenue or specify the reporting period.

Its next phase depends on adding licences and banking access in new markets while broadening a platform that already spans real-time payments, cashback and transaction analysis. Success will depend on whether Hello Clever can scale the activity behind more than $3.5 billion in processed payments and turn the platform into $100 million in annual recurring revenue.