“Can a workforce-native payroll infrastructure company become the default embedded pay layer for staffing, marketplaces, and EOR/PEOs?”
Founded 2019 as Puzzl, a gig-economy payments startup. When regulation forced Puzzl to reclassify thousands of 1099 contractors as W-2 employees, the founders couldn't find payroll infrastructure that could handle high-volume, dynamic pay — so they built it themselves and pivoted the company to become embedded payroll infrastructure under the Zeal brand. Today Zeal targets workforce platforms (staffing marketplaces, EOR/PEOs, on-demand labor) with an Onboard/Pay/Bill stack, monetizing worker payments via paycards, digital wallets, and instant pay.
Zeal discloses Treasury Prime as its banking provider, with Bangor Savings Bank as its sponsor bank, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Zeal does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Bangor Savings Bank.
Zeal processes payments through Treasury Prime (banking software) and astra. Disclosed money-movement rails: ACH and Push-to-card.
Zeal's cards are issued through Treasury Prime on the Mastercard network.
Zeal's payroll is powered by Zeal (in-house) and zeal.
Zeal integrates with Timekeeping, Background Screening, 401k, Healthcare, Insurance, HRIS and ATS.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 8 layers in Zeal's stack: Payments / PSP (Treasury Prime (banking software) and astra); Money movement (ACH and Push-to-card); Banking / BaaS (Treasury Prime); Card issuing (Treasury Prime); Card network (Mastercard); Payroll (Zeal (in-house) and zeal); Sponsor bank (Bangor Savings Bank); Accounting (Timekeeping, Background Screening, 401k, Healthcare and 3 others).
Zeal was founded by Kirti Shenoy and Pranab Krishnan and is founded in 2019, headquartered in San Francisco, CA.
Zeal has raised ~$29.6M in total (latest round: Series B, 2023 ($15M)).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Zeal and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.