Wagestream, a London, UK-based provider of a financial wellbeing app, raised $175M in Series C funding.
The round was led by Smash Capital, with participation from Epic Games, Reddit, SonderMind, and DuckDuckGo, with participation from BlackRock, Balderton Capital, Northzone, Fair By Design, and Silicon Valley Bank.
The company intends to use the funds to scale up its presence in new markets such as the U.S.
Founded in 2018 by Peter Briffett (CEO), Portman Wills (CTO) and a group of leading financial charities, including Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Barrow Cadbury Trust, Social Tech Trust, Big Society Capital, and the Fair By Design fund, Wagestream is a financial wellbeing app designed for frontline workers and built around their pay. Offered through caring employers, it makes work more inclusive, fair and rewarding for people – by giving them access to fair financial services built around flexible pay.
Workers access Wagestream through participating employers, who subsidize the service. The app syncs with payroll systems and allows employees to access and manage their income – either directly through the app, or as an integration with workforce management technology partners. Additionally, the app provides users with a variety of financial services to help them build up their financial health over time. For example, people can choose how often they’re paid, track their shifts and pay each day, build savings and win prizes, access free financial coaching, and get fairer deals on products – like insurance and utilities – than they would have access to elsewhere.
More than one million workers in industries such as retail, hospitality and healthcare are currently able to use the app through employers including Burger King, Pizza Hut, Crate & Barrel, Bupa and the UK’s National Health Service. One million workers now can access Wagestream globally through over 300 employers in the U.S., UK, Spain and Australia.
FinSMEs
14/04/2022