Corporate welfare · Fintech

Corporate welfare people actually spend.

Smartwage turns Italy's closed, static welfare catalogue into a flexible digital wallet employees spend in real time — plus earned wage access and an AI coach so no credit goes to waste.

Book a demo Try the wallet
Backed by Step Fund & Zest — €2M pre-seed, April 2026
Authorised in real time
Salary advance · €350
SmartwageWallet
Welfare credit available
€1.200
of €1.200 · 0% wasted this year
Meal vouchersElectronic · €8/day€176
Transport passReimbursed · tax-free€45
Kids' educationSchool · books · nursery€300
Earned wage accessDraw part of your pay early Get €350
€7bn+
Italy's corporate welfare market
<50%
of employees can actually use welfare
20–40%
of welfare credit expires unspent
+30%
productivity where welfare is structured
How it works

From a locked catalogue to credit that moves.

Regulated payment rails plus AI expense recognition — so the company stays compliant and the employee just spends.

01

The company loads credit

HR sets each employee's welfare budget in a few clicks. Modular, subscription SaaS — built to fit SMEs, not just large groups.

02

The employee spends it

A linked card or direct reimbursement, an app that shows the balance, and an AI coach that suggests where each euro is best used.

03

Authorised in real time

Every purchase is verified against eligibility instantly, tax rules applied automatically, and HR gets clean reporting. Plus earned wage access on the same rails.

Try it now

Your welfare wallet — and an assistant that knows the rules.

Set a yearly budget, allocate it across real welfare categories, and ask the assistant whether something qualifies. This is the experience employees actually see.

Welfare wallet

Move the budget, allocate your credit.
Credit still to allocate
€1.200
of €1.200 annual budget
Annual welfare budget€1.200
Welfare CoachAI assistant · online
Illustrative demo. Eligibility and tax treatment follow Italian welfare rules (TUIR art. 51/100) but are simplified — not tax advice.
The platform

One rail for welfare, pay and spend.

Earned wage access

Employees draw a share of pay already earned, before payday — no loans, no interest on their side.

AI expense recognition

Receipts and purchases are read and mapped to the right welfare category automatically — minimal manual work for HR.

Real-time authorisation

Regulated payment tools verify and approve each welfare purchase at the point of sale, at any eligible provider.

Employee app & card

A clean app for the balance and an AI coach, plus a linked card or direct reimbursement to the bank account.

HR dashboard & compliance

Tax rules applied automatically, clean reporting, and full visibility on adoption and unspent credit.

Built as a Società Benefit

Founded to cut inequality and make welfare reach everyone — the SMEs and workers usually left out.

The company
Corporate welfare in Italy is worth over €7 billion — yet fewer than half of employees ever really use it. We built Smartwage to reduce that inequality and turn welfare into credit anyone can spend.
MG
Marco Gambardella
Founder & CEO · previously founded Plurima (sold to Italiana Assicurazioni, 2023)
Backed by
Step FundAlternative Capital PartnersZest
MG
Marco Gambardella
Chief Executive Officer
FC
Felice Cupane
Chief Technology Officer
FV
Francesco Varuzza
Chief Operating Officer
Palermo, Italy
Founded 2024 · €2M pre-seed, 2026

See Smartwage running on your team.

A 20-minute walkthrough of the wallet, the AI coach and the HR dashboard — with your welfare budget plugged in.

Book a demo Download the one-pager
Independent concept for Smartwage — designed by Shubh Lamba