UK fintech Wagestream bags £17.5m funding to expand its financial benefits offering
UK fintech Wagestream has landed a fresh £17.5 million investment as it looks to build out its financial benefits platform for low and middle-income earners.
Wagestream lands new £17.5m investment
The round includes funding from the fintech’s existing investor Northzone – which also contributed to its $175 million Series C in 2022 – as well as new investors Lombard Odier Investment Managers and British Business Bank subsidiary British Patient Capital.
Wagestream’s platform allows employers to offer their workforce access to an interactive payslip, enabling employees to “choose when they get paid, save directly from their pay, save money on bills and get free debt advice”.
For Peter Briffett, co-founder and CEO of Wagestream, the platform helps deliver “a better experience at work, better quality of life at home and business impact for the employer”, adding that “healthy teams are loyal, productive teams”.
Currently live across 1,000 employers in the US, UK and Spain – including Asda, Burger King, Bupa, Hilton and the NHS – the start-up claims a penetration rate of 3 million employees, with a primary demographic of shift and frontline workers.
With its latest round of funding, Wagestream says it will now seek to expand its offering to create a “complete financial platform”, with a specific focus on eliminating the £430 premium low and middle-income workers pay to access essential services.
The firm plans to add new services including a credit-builder card for those with unfavourable credit scores, shopping discounts to counter inflationary pressures, loans and an AI-powered financial advice coach – all due to launch this year.
The start-up’s tech stack was previously bolstered by its acquisition of London-based credit card challenger Keebo last October.
