Extraordinary
Extraordinary runs employee benefits for employers on one platform and one card, so a perk gets spent rather than claimed back.
- Category
- Fintech
- Fund
- NZVC I
- Website
- www.extraordinarypay.com
- On TechMates
- 3 episodes
What Extraordinary does
An employer sets a budget and the categories it can be used in, and each employee gets an app and a card that works only in those categories, covering allowances, gifting and rewards, peer-to-peer recognition and tax-free public transport. The employer pays only when an allowance is actually spent. Steve Zinsli and his co-founders launched the company as HealthNow in 2021, starting with healthcare spending, and renamed it Extraordinary in October 2024 as employers began asking for everyday perks too.
The secret
Restricting the card at the merchant category rather than policing receipts afterwards is what makes the whole model work. Employers are charged only when an allowance is actually spent, so the cost of a benefit finally matches its take-up instead of its headcount.
Why NZVC invested in Extraordinary
We backed Extraordinary because employee benefits are still delivered through clunky reimbursements and one-size-fits-all schemes, and employers want flexible perks their diverse workforces will actually use. The smart card and app turn a manual admin burden into a controlled, spend-when-used product, which aligns cost with real usage and lifts take-up. The founder had already proven the model in health and wellbeing, and demand for meaningful, flexible benefits is growing as employers compete harder for people.
Extraordinary in the press
- HealthNow rebranded as ExtraordinaryRNZ · 30 October 2024
- Auckland company Extraordinary develops work benefits cardRNZ · 30 October 2024
- Extraordinary replaced benefits reimbursements with a card staff spend as they goNZ Herald · 29 October 2024
- Rebrand puts founder on path to build Extraordinary legacyNBR
Extraordinary on TechMates
Fintech Frontiers: Reinventing Money from the Edge of the World | NZVC Portfolio Day
You hear three founders describe what it takes to build fintech in a country where four Australian banks own the market. Jovan Pavlicevic on lobbying to start a bank, Dermot Butterfield on open banking pipes, and Steven Zinsli on making public transport tax-free through product design.
A joint episode, alongside Emerge and Wych.
Extraordinary on TechMates
Beyond Startup Hype: 5 Founders on Real Difficulties
You hear five founders in twelve minutes on the parts of startups that do not make the highlight reels. Shaun Quincey on finding the real buyer, Liam Kampshof on cowshed prototypes, Steven Zinsli on stopping what is wrong, Nick Damiano on deciding to found, and Anna Henwood on loving uncertainty.
A joint episode, alongside Simfuni, Bovonic, Andromeda Surgical and Stickybeak.
Extraordinary on TechMates
Exit at 27: Chasing Bigger Horizons
You hear how a 27-year-old sold a 15-clinic health group and then killed his own healthcare BNPL idea. Steven Zinsli explains the pivot to employer benefits, why breakage beats card fees, and how a tax ruling on public transport became Extraordinary's moat.
“Persist more than resist.”Steven Zinsli
- From clinics to fintech: scaling 15 sites, 120 staff, and 105k patients, then exiting to build software.
- Why BNPL for healthcare did not pencil out, and the pivot to employer-funded benefits.
- Modular platform and pricing psychology: per-employee plus fixed breakage, not card fees.