Financial well-being app Wagestream Raises $175M Series C

Wagestream, a financial wellbeing app, has raised a $175 million Series C funding round.

The company was founded in 2018 by Peter Briffett (CEO), Portman Wills (CTO) and a group of financial charities to give people access to a set of fairer financial services, delivered through their employer and built around flexible pay (also known as earned wage access). These new funds will primarily be used to expand into markets such as the United States.

“When we launched Wagestream, many employers viewed financial wellbeing in the workplace as a long-term aspiration; now they realize it is an emergency,” said Briffett. “For example, 93% of companies we recently surveyed plan to put a financial wellbeing program in place, and we’re seeing a similar shift in the US. By addressing the financial well-being of their employees, employers become the hero and solve their HR challenges in the process – from recruitment to retention, to productivity.”

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 directly through the app or as an integration with workforce management technology partners. Additionally, with financial inclusion in mind, the app provides users with various 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.

New investors lead the funding round, Smash Capital – a U.S.-based investment firm focused on later-stage consumer internet and technology companies. Smash’s prior investments include Epic Games, Reddit, SonderMind, and DuckDuckGo. Its founders previously led investments for The Walt Disney Company and several venture capital firms. The round also includes new investors BlackRock, joined by follow-on investments from existing shareholders Balderton Capital, Northzone, charity fund Fair By Design, and new financing from Silicon Valley Bank.

“The combination of financial exclusion and a rising cost of living have created severe financial stress for hard-working Americans,” said Brad Twohig, managing partner at Smash Capital. “We’ve invested in Wagestream because its team has reimagined the world of work making it more accessible and rewarding for millions of people.”

More than one million workers in industries such as retail, hospitality, and healthcare can 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 more than 300 employers in the US, UK, Spain and Australia.

Part-owned by financial charities and impact funds, including Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Barrow Cadbury Trust, Social Tech Trust, Big Society Capital, and the Fair By Design fund, Wagestream operates under a social charter written into the company’s articles of association. The charter ensures that the company can only offer financial services which improve workers’ financial wellbeing. All of Wagestream’s investors – including participants in the new Series C round – agree to that social charter, meaning it cannot prioritize growth and profit above the wellbeing of end customers. Wagestream is the only financial well-being provider known to adhere to these standards.

Wagestream is accountable to an Impact Advisory Board and reports on social impact to its shareholders each quarter as part of its social charter.

“It’s time for fintech businesses to reach and include the 2.7-billion global frontline workforce in a fair financial system,” Ascension partner Emma Steele, whose firm manages the Fair By Design Fund, said. “As a pre-seed backer of Wagestream, we’ve watched the business quickly evolve from its ‘beachhead’ flexible pay tool proposition to a global fintech scale-up, bringing a broad range of financial wellbeing tools to over one million people and growing at an impressive scale. We are so proud of what the team continues to achieve – they are an undeniable proof that purpose-led vision and commercial scale go hand in hand.”

Wagestream publishes a bi-annual Impact Assessment, which tracks the impact of its financial services on end customers.



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