Illustration: Tiffany Herring/Axios

Once a novel idea, earned wage access shows signs of maturity, as more institutional capital flows in and recent entrants seek to capture market share.

Why it matters: Advocates argue that earned wage access will become a standard employee benefit for workers in most industries.

The big picture: Today, there are two main flavors of how "earned wage access" is delivered:

• First, there's an employer-sponsored model, in which providers integrate with payroll or timekeeping systems and partner with businesses to offer access to wages as an employee benefit.
• There's also a direct-to-consumer model, where lenders use various data sources — such as consumer spending habits, direct deposit history and sometimes location tracking — to determine an employee's likely wages and provide an advance on their pay.

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